/ 


NINEVEH. 


1 


Taking  down  the  great  winged  bull. 


NINEVEH; 

OR, 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


BY 

Rev.  increase  n.  tarbox. 


WRITTEN  FOR  THE  MASS.  S.  S.  SOCIETY,  AND  APPROVED 
BY  THE  COMMITTEE  OF  PUBLICATION. 


BOSTON: 

MASSACHUSETTS  SABBATH  SCHOOL  SOCIETY. 
Depository,  No.  13  Cornhill. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1863,  by 
The  Massachusetts  Sabbath  School  Society, 

In  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts. 


PREFACE. 


Our  aim  in  preparing  this  little  volume,  has  been 
•to  bring  the  wonderful  discoveries  which  have  been 
made  within  a few  years  at  Nineveh  and  Babylon, 
familiarly  before  the  minds  of  a great  number  of 
readers.  The  large  and  costly  works  of  Mr.  Layard, 
have  been  read,  we  presume,  by  comparatively  few 
persons.  And  yet  the  subject  is  one  of  such  immense 
interest  and  importance,  that  all  people  in  this  Chris- 
tian land  ought  to  know  something  of  the  revelations 
which  have  been  made,  and  the  strong  confirmation 
of  the  truth  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures  which 
has  thus  been  furnished. 

We  have  sought,  in  a plain  and  simple  manner,  to 
compass  the  ^hole  subject,  and  present  it  in  such  a 
form,  that  it  may  be  read  alike  by  old  or  young. 

In  preparing  the  work,  we  have,  of  course,  made 
free  use  of  Mr.  Layard’s  volumes.  We  are  also  largely 
indebted  to  the  works  of  Mr.  George  Rawlinson.  We 

(v) 


vi 


PREFACE. 


have  had  frequent  occasion  to  consult  his  learned  edi- 
tion of  Herodotus,  In  four  volumes,  and  his  work  on  the 
44  Historical  Evidences.”  In  these  volumes  are  embod- 
ied the  great  results  of  the  researches  of  his  brother, 
Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  who  followed  in  the  track  of 
Layard,  and  brought  his  remarkable  talent  as  a lin- 
guist into  requisition,  in  deciphering  these  ancient 
monuments. 

Other  standard  works  have  been  also  freely  referred 
to,  as  the  nature  of  our  inquiries  demanded.  We  have  + 
aimed  to  be  accurate,  but  a critical  eye  may  discover 
some  mistakes.  As  it  is,  we  send  it  forth,  hoping  that 
it  may  both  interest  and  instruct  its  readers. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAG! 

Many  buried  cities  . 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

What  is  told  us  of  the  early  history  of 
Nineveh  • • 10 

CHAPTER  III. 

Grandeur  and  pride  of  the  Assyrian  Em- 
pire. — Extent  of  the  ancient  city.  — 
Prominent  historical  facts  connected 

WITH  ITS  HISTORY.  — SOME  OF  THE  CAUSES 
WHICH  LED  TO  ITS  DOWNFALL  ......  20 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Fulfilment  of  prophecy  in  the  destruction 
of  Nineveh 50 


( vii ) 


VI 11 


CONTENTS 


- CHAPTER  V. 

Ages  of  desolation 64 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Explorino  the  mound  of  Nimroud  ....  86 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Second  winter’s  work  at  Nimroud  . . . 108 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

General  observations  uroN  these  Asstrian 
mounds  and  buildings 136 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Connection  of  Tnis  wiiole  subject  with  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures 163 

CHAPTER  X. 

Concluding  thoughts  • 212 


NINEVEH; 


OR, 

THE  BURIED  CITY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MANY  BURIED  CITIES. 

In  the  changing  fortunes  of  this  world, 
by  the  decay  and  ruin  which  have  come 
over  nations  and  empires,  it  has  happened 
many  times,  that  cities  once  great  and 
powerful,  have  been  utterly  submerged 
and  lost  to  human  view.  Perhaps  the 
expression,  “ buried  cities,”  would  first  of 
all  awaken  in  the  minds  of  our  ^readers  a 
thought  of  Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  two 
1 (1) 


2 


NINEVEH*,  OR, 


ancient  cities  in  southern  Italy.  These 
two  places  were  suddenly  and  completely 
covered  from  human  sight,  in  the  seventy- 
ninth  year  of  the  Christian  era,  by  the 
ashes  and  burning  lava  thrown  out  from 
the  neighboring  volcano  of  Vesuvius,  in 
the  time  of  an  awful  eruption.  Most  of 
the  inhabitants,  seeing  the  danger  that  was 
coming,  hastily  escaped  and  saved  their 
lives.  But  many  perished.  Poor  prison- 
ers, locked  up  in  dungeons  and  cells,  and, 
perhaps,  chained  to  the  walls,  had  no 
chance  to  escape.  Some,  also,  were  so 
anxious  to  carry  off’  with  them  their  bags 
of  money  and  other  costly  articles,  that 
they  lingered  too  long  in  searching  for 
them,  and  were  caught  in  the  descending 
clouds  of  ashes,  or  overwhelmed  by  the 
burning  currents  of  lava.  Such  quantities 
of  matter,  in  these  two  forms,  were  poured 
from  the  crater  of  the  mountain,  that  the 
cities  were  entirely  concealed ; and  no  one 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


15 


not  entirely  familiar  with  the  localities,  will 
do  well  to  look  upon  some  map,  which  will 
show  them  at  once  the  relations  of  the  two 
countries,  as  also  the  relations  of  both  to 
the  land  of  Canaan,  which  was  given  to 
the  Jews,  and  which  for  many  centuries 
was  to  be  their  home  and  their  kingdom. 
This  Assyrian  Empire  lay  around  the 
waters  of  the  Euphrates  and  Tigris  rivers, 
— covering  what  has  since  been  called 
Mesopotamia,  — a word  made  up  of  two 
Greek  words,  and  meaning  “ between  the 
rivers.’5  The  city  of  Nineveh,  the  early 
capital  of  the  empire,  with  which  we  have 
especially  to  do,  stood  far  up  on  the  Tigris, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  river ; while  the 
city  of  Babylon,  the  later  capital,  was 
situated  on  both  sides  of  the  river  Euphra- 
tes, much  further  down  toward  the  place 
where  it  empties  into  the  Persian  Gulf. 

For  a long  time,  as  we  were  saying,  the 
Jewish  history  had  no  direct  connection 


16 


NINEVEIi;  OR, 


with  what  was  going  on  in  this  Assyrian 
Empire,  and  so  the  sacred  historians  tell 
us  almost  nothing  of  it.  But  by  and  by, 
after  many  centuries  had  passed  away,  the 
two  histories  become  very  closely  con- 
nected. These  proud  Assyrian  kings  hav- 
ing obtained  dominion  and  power,  were 
ambitious  to  conquer  all  the  nations  around 
and  hold  them  in  subjection ; and  so  from 
time  to  time  they  made  war  upon  the 
Jewish  nation,  whose  capital  and  great 
city  was  Jerusalem.  Many  battles  were 
fought  between  the  armies  of  the  two 
nations,  in  which  the  Jews  were  sometimes 
victorious,  but  more  commonly  the  victory 
was  on  the  other  side.  Hence,  according 
to  the  fashion  of  the  times,  many  of  the 
Jews  were  led  into  captivity  to  Nineveh, 
and  in  later  times  to  Babylon.  Those  that 
remained  at  home  were  obliged  to  pay 
tribute  to  the  kings  of  Assyria.  The  splen- 
did Temple  which  Solomon  had  built  at 


THE  B URIED  CITY. 


17 


Jerusalem,  at  untold  expense,  and  by  the 
labors  of  hundreds  of  thousands  < f men, 
employed  upon  this  one  work  for  more 
than  seven  years,  was  torn  down  and 
destroyed  by  these  Assyrian,  (or  Babylo- 
nians, as  they  were  called  in  the  later  ages 
of  the  empire).  The  power  of  the  Jewish 
nation  was  at  last  so  shattered  and  broken 
by  these  repeated  attacks  of  the  Assyrian 
armies,  that  it  could  never  recover  its 
ancient  glory,  but  gradually  descended  in 
the  scale,  — suffering  also  from  other  ene- 
mies, — until  at  last  the  Romans  came  in, 
and  utterly  demolished  their  kingdom,  scat- 
tering the  Jewish  people  to  the  four  winds 
of  heaven. 

All  this  is  to  show  that  there  came  a 
time  at  length,  many  centuries  after  the 
city  of  Nineveh  was  founded,  when  the 
history  of  the  Jews  and  the  Assyrians  natu- 
rally ran  together,  just  as  the  Jewish  and 
Egyptian  history  had  done  at  an  earlier 
2 


18 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


date ; and  from  that  time  the  sacred  writers 
have  occasion  to  say  a great  deal  about 
what  is  going  on  in  this  old  and  powerful 
empire.  Between  eight  and  nine  hundred 
years  before  the  time  of  Christ,  the  Scrip- 
tures begin  to  throw  their  clear  and  steady 
light  upon  this  subject,  and  from  that  time 
for  three  or  four  hundred  years,  while  this 
great  empire  is  descending  in  the  scale, 
and  rushing  rapidly  toward  utter  extinction 
and  ruin,  we  see  plainly  what  is  passing, 
by  the  light  thrown  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment Scriptures. 

We  have  also,  it  is  true,  especially  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  period,  some  light  from 
other  writers.  But,  taking  the  whole  course 
of  events,  our  most  valuable  information 
comes  from  the  Old  Testament.  Now,  it 
is  a matter  of  great  importance  to  find 
evidence  in  our  own  day  — new  and  won- 
derful evidence  — that  these  Scripture  his- 
tories are  exactly  true.  We  may  never 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


19 


have  doubted  them  ourselves,  but  there  are 
men  who  have  doubted  them,  and  have 
wickedly  tried  to  make  out  that  very  much 
of  this  Old  Testament  history  was  nothing 
better  than  fiction.  And  for  this  reason 
we  regard  it  as  a wonderful  providence  of 
God,  that  the  remains  of  this  ancient  city 
of  Nineveh,  which  had  entirely  disappeared 
from  view,  so  that  even  the  spot  where  it 
stood  was  not  certainly  known,  should  in 
our  own  day  be  uncovered  and  brought  to 
view,  that  men  may  see  with  their  own 
eyes  what  those  Assyrians  were  thinking 
of  and  doing,  almost  three  thousand  years 
ago. 

And  this  part  of  our  story  we  shall  come 
to  by  and  by,  but  it  will  be  more  interest- 
ing and  instructive,  when  it  comes,  if  we 
still  go  on,  and  tell  something  more  of  the 
ancient  city. 


20 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


CHAPTER  III. 

GRANDEUR  AND  PRIDE  OF  THE  ASSYRIAN  EMPIRE. 
— EXTENT  OF  THE  ANCIENT  CITY.  — PROMI- 
NENT HISTORICAL  FACTS  CONNECTED  WITH  ITS 
HISTORY. — SOME  OF  THE  CAUSES  WHICH  LED 
TO  ITS  DOWNFALL. 

In  the  previous  chapter,  we  have  said 
that  the  early  history  of  Nineveh  is  wrapt 
in  almost  total  darkness.  One  or  two 
writers  have  attempted  to  follow  out  the 
course  of  events  connected  with  its  progress 
and  growth,  but  it  would  serve  little  pur- 
pose for  us  to  repeat  their  statements,  some 
of  which  perhaps  are  true,  and  some  not 
Passing  over  a long  interval  of  time, 
more  than  a thousand  years  from  the  first 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


21 


founding  of  the  city,  and  coming  down  to 
a point  little  more  than  eight  hundred 
years  before  the  time  of  Christ,  we  find  the 
Assyrian  Empire  in  its  full  strength,  and 
Nineveh,  its  capital,  at  the  very  height  of 
its  splendor  and  renown.  There  was, 
probably,  no  city  in  all  the  earth  at  that 
time  that  could  compare  with  it  for  mag- 
nificence and  extent.  Babylon,  which  came 
afterward  to  equal,  and  even  excel  it,  had 
not  yet  reached  its  full  grandeur.  Indeed, 
Babylon  rose  not  to  the  full  measure  of  its 
greatness  until  Nineveh  fell. 

Jerusalem,  adorned  with  its  costly  Tem- 
ple, where  the  true  God  was,  worshipped, 
was  covered  with  moral  glory  which  no 
other  city  had.  But,  so  far  as  extent  and 
population  were  concerned,  it  could  hold 
no  comparison  with  Nineveh. 

Tyre,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Medi- 
terranean sea,  widely  famous  for  its  com- 
merce— having  its  connections  by  trade 


22 


NINEVEH;  OK, 


with  almost  all  parts  of  the  then  known 
world  — filled  with  a busy  and  wealthy 
population,  was  yet  but  a village  in  size, 
as  compared  with  this^  proud  Assyrian 
capital. 

Of  all  the  cities  of  the  early  world,  as 
•already  intimated,  Thebes  — “ hundred- 
gated Thebes  ” — in  Upper  Egypt,  was 
probably  the  largest.  But  this  city  seems 
to  have  attained  the  full  measure  of  its 
greatness  somewhat  earlier  than  Nineveh. 
Thebes  is  supposed  to  be  spoken  of  in  the 
Scriptures  under  the  name  of  No,  or  No- 
Ammon.  The  ^prophet  Nahum,  who  lived 
between  seven  and  eight  hundred  years 
before  the  time  of  Christ,  when  predicting 
the  sudden  downfall  and  extinction  of 
Nineveh,  thus  refers  to  the  destruction 
which  had  already  come  upon  this  other 
famous  city  : “ Art  thou  better  than  popu- 
lous No,  that  was  situate  among  the  rivers, 
that  had  the  waters  round  about  it.  . . . 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


23 


Ethiopia  and  Egypt  were  her  strength,  and 
was  infinite.  Yet  was  she  carried  away, 
she  went  into  captivity.” 

Taking  our  stand,  then,  we  will  say,  at 
Jerusalem,  at  the  point  of  time  above 
named  — a little  more  than  eight  hundred 
years  before  Christ  — and  looking  out  upon 
the  world  around  us,  upon  the  kingdoms 
and  empires  most  fitted  to  attract  our 
attention,  and  above  all  lesser  states  and 
kingdoms  there  rise  boldly  into  view  two 
grand  and  rival  centres  of  power  — Egypt 
on  the  south,  and  Assyria  on  the  northeast, 
and  of  the  two,  Assyria  is  now  in  the 
ascendant,  and  her  proud  capital  is  Nine- 
veh. In  her  haughty  presence,  the  people 
around  stand  trembling.  She  leads  the 
nations  at  her  chariot  wheels. 

It  is  hardly  possible,  in  these  latter  ages 
of  the  world,  to  gain  a full  idea  of  the  high 
and  swelling  pride  in  which  these  Assyrian 
monarchs  indulged.  So  many  great  na- 


24 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


tions  and  empires  have  since  that  time 
gone  to  destruction,  the  path  of  history  i$ 
so  strewn  with  wrecks  and  ruins,  that  men 
have  been  taught  wisdom  by  the  sober 
lessons  of  the  world’s  experience. 

But  these  kings  of  Assyria  looked  back 
upon  a course  of  dominion  which  stretched 
away  almost  to  the  flood.  Their  empire 
had  been  slowly  enlarging  and  strengthen- 
ing itself,  until  it  stood  forth  the  most  con- 
spicuous power  in  all  the  earth.  They 
indulged  the  fond  idea  of  conquering  all 
nations,  and  making  them  minister  to  their 
pomp  and  pleasure.  The  Old  Testament 
writers,  in  many  glowing  passages,  describe 
the  haughty  pride  of  Assyria. 

“ Thou  hast  said  in  thine  heart,  I will 
. ascend  into  heaven,  I will  exalt  my  throne 

abov^  the  stars  of  God I will 

ascend  above  the  heights  of  the  clouds,  I 
will  be  like  the  Most  High.”  These  are  the 
grapliic  words  of  the  prophet  Isaiah. 


THE  BURIED  CITT. 


25 


The  message  which  one  of  these  Assy- 
rian monarchs  sent  to  the  Jews  in  the 
time  of  King  Hezekiah,  as  recorded  by  the 
same  prophet,  shows  us  how  vain  and  self- 
confident  they  were,  and  how  they  thought 
to  subdue  every  thing  before  them.  “ Let 
not  Hezekiah  make  you  trust  in  the  Lord, 
saying,  i The  Lord  shall  surely  deliver  us.’ 
. . . Hath  any  of  the  gods  of  the  nations 
delivered  his  land  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
king  of  Assyria?  ....  Who  are  they 
among  all  the  gods  of  these  lands,  that 
have  delivered  their  land  out  of  my  hand, 
that  the  Lord  should  deliver  Jerusalem  out 
of  my  hand  ? ” 

But u pride  goeth  before  destruction,  and 
a haughty  spirit  before  a fall.”  During  the 
two  hundred  years  which  follow  the  date 
above  given,  there  is  a quick  succession  of 
events  tending  directly  to  the  overthrow 
and  downfall  of  this  great  empire.  The 
various  actors  move  before  us  so  hurriedly 


26 


NINE  VEIi;  OR, 


and  confusedly,  that  it  is  difficult  to  fol- 
low them,  or  describe  the  parts  in  which 
they  acted  to  bring  about  the  great  result. 
But  we  see  clearly  enough  that  everything 
is  rapidly  tending  to  destruction.  First, 
the  old  empire  is  ‘broken  by  revolt  and 
rebellion — an  internal  convulsion,  chang- 
ing the  old  order  of  things,  and  consign- 
ing Nineveh  to  swift  destruction.  Baby- 
lon now  becomes  the  capital  of  the  new 
empire,  which  is  called  Babylonia.  Baby- 
lon had  been  long  in  existence,  as  long 
certainly  as  Nineveh,  and  ages  before,  it 
had  been  the  chief  city.  But  for  four  hun- 
dred years  Nineveh  had  held  this  position. 
Under  this  new  arrangement,  Babylon  is 
soon  enlarged  and  carried  to  its  highest 
splendor.  After  a time  this  too  falls,  and 
before  the  time  of  Christ  an  awful  silence 
begins  to  brood  over  these  ancient  seats  oi 
empire. 

It  is  not  our  design  to  attempt  to  trace 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


27 


minutely  the  course  of  Assyrian  history. 
We  have  to  do  more  particularly  with  the 
city  of  Nineveh  itself ; and  it  is  fit  that  we 
should  give  our  readers  as  clear  an  account 
as  we  can,  of  the  size  and  extent  of  this 
ancient  city,  as  described  by  the  early 
writers,  and  also  as  gathered  from  the 
Scriptures. 

The  accounts  given  us  by  the  ancient 
historians  respecting  both  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  are  not  always  harmonious  one 
with  another,  but  it  seems  to  be  pretty 
generally  agreed  that  each  of  these  cities 
was  not  far  from  sixty  miles  in  circumfer- 
ence ; Babylon  being  in  the  form  of  an 
exact  square,  while  Nineveh  was  longer 
one  way  than  the  other,  or  in  the  form  of 
a parallelogram.  This  difference  in  the 
form  of  the  cities  is  very  well  attested. 
One  of  the  old  historians  says  of  the  shape 
of  Nineveh,  “ Two  of  its  sides  were  each 
one  hundred  and  fifty  furlongs  long,  and 


28 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


the  other  two  ninety  furlongs.”  Another 
writer  says,  “ Whereas  Nineveh  was  in  the 
form  of  a parallelogram,  he  (Nebuchad- 
nezzar) made  Babylon  in  the  form  of  an 
exact  square.” 

It  appears  probable  from  recent  discov- 
eries, that  Nineveh  was  not  in  the  shape 
of  a right-angled  parallelogram,  but  of  an 
irregular  one,  thus  — 


IS  miles. 


The  vt  alls  which  enclosed  these  ancient 
cities  have  always  been  a wonder  among 
men.  Though  the  stories  told  respecting 
the  walls  of  Nineveh  do  not  equal  those 
related  of  Babylon,  yet  on  the  lowest  esti- 
mate those  of  Nineveh  were  one  hundred 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


29 


feet  in  height,  and  fifty  feet  thick,  with 
fifteen  hundred  towers,  placed  at  regular 
intervals,  and  rising  two  hundred  feet  from 
the  ground,  or  one  hundred  feet  above  the 
upper  line  of  the  walls. 

If  one  stops  to  think  of  such  a wall  as 
this,  running  on  for  sixty  miles,  at  first  it 
almost  surpasses  belief.  But  we  must 
bear  in  mind  that  the  old  monarchies, 
such  as  prevailed  in  the  early  ages  of  the 
world,  had  great  facilities  for  enterprises 
like  these.  The  sovereign,  in  such  an 
empire  as  the  Assyrian,  could  by  his  mere 
will  and  pleasure,  gather  together  any 
number  of  men,  and  employ  them  as  he 
pleased.  Under  those  old  oppressive  sys- 
tems, men  existed  not  for  themselves,  but 
to  serve  the  monarch,  in  peace  or  war  as 
he  might  choose.  At  the  call  of  the  king, 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  men 
would  come  trooping  from  every  part  of 
his  dominions,  to  swell  his  armies  or  build 
his  cities  and  palaces. 


30 


NINEVEH-*  OR, 


Besides,  it  was  the  custom  in  those  early 
empires,  to  employ  the  captives  taken  in 

war  in  these  hard  and  wearisome  labors. 

» 

When  an  empire  was  strong  like  the  Assy- 
rian in  the  days  of  its  glory,  — when  its 
armies  were  victorious  in  battle,  and  were 
extending  their  conquests  on  every  side, 
the  number  of  captives  taken  in  war,  and 
led  home  in  triumph,  were  almost  innumer- 
able. We  know  from  the  Bible  that  im- 
mense numbers  of  the  Jews  were  carried 
into  captivity  by  the  Assyrians.  In  the 
time  of  the  great  captivity,  when  the  Jews 
were  carried  to  Babylon  under  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, almost  the  whole  nation  was  thus 
removed,  and  in  the  earlier  captivities, 
when  they  were  taken  to  Nineveh,  the 
numbers  carried  thither  were  immense. 
And  as  it  was  with  the  Jewish  nation,  so 
was  it  with  the  other  nations  around, 
which  were  conquered  by  the  Assyrians. 
Consequently  there  were  men  enough  to 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


31 


do  almost  any  work  upon  which  they 
might  be  set. 

Understanding  this,  we  may  see  that 
there  is  nothing  really  incredible  in  what  is 
told  us  of  the  size  and  extent  and  grandeur 
of  Nineveh.  It  was  not  probably  so  great 
a work  to  build  the  walls  of  Nineveh  as  to 
construct  all  the  railroads  which  have  been 
built  in  this  country  during  the  last  thirty 
years,  and  yet  all  this  has  come  about  very 
quietly  indeed,  under  our  system  of  free 
labor. 

The  walls  of  this  city,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, were  not  built  of  solid  stone,  but 
simply  of  large,  square,  sun-dried  bricks, 
the  material  for  which  was  taken  out  of  the 
earth  near  at  hand.  These  could  be  made 
very  rapidly,  and  when  they  were  placed 

«r 

in  the  walls,  they  were  laid  not  in  mortar, 
but  were  stuck  together  with  bitumen,  a 
substance  largely  found  in  that  part  of  the 
earth.  The  materials  were  just  the  same 


32 


NINEVEH;  OR, 

as  the  builders  of  Babel  had,  as  described 
in  the  11th  chapter  of  Genesis.  u They 
had  brick  for  stone,  and  slime  (or  bitumen) 
had  they  for  mortar.”  With  every  thing  so 
near  at  hand,  two  or  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men  would  go  on  with  such  a work 
as  this  with  great  rapidity. 

The  city  of  Nineveh,  thus  constructed 
and  fortified,  was  not,  of  course,  the  old 
city  which  Assur  built  just  after  the  flood. 
As  has  been  already  said,  that  city  had 
been  torn  down  doubtless  and  rebuilt  again 
and  again,  as  the  empire  had  increased. 
The  city,  in  the  form  and  extent  in  which 
it  stood  at  the  time  of  its  destruction,  was 
probably  not  many  hundred  years  old. 

A wall  running  thus  for  sixty  miles  in 
nearly  a square  form,  encloses  a vast  terri- 
tory, to  be  occupied  as  a city.  It  is  not 
supposed  that  this  whole  space  was  densely 
filled  with  dwellings  and  inhabitants. 
There  were  doubtless  wide  open  spaces, 


THE  BURIED  CIT  Y. 


33 


where  the  land  might  be  cultivated.  It 
was  designed,  probably,  in  time  of  war,  if 
the  city  were  besieged,  and  the  supplies 
cut  off  from  without,  that  the  people  might 
subsist  for  a long  time  upon  what  might 
be  raised  within  the  walls. 

We  have  thus  given  a mere  glance  at 
the  size  and  extent  of  Nineveh,  as  the  story 
is  told  by  the  early  writers.  And  although 
the  tale,  at  first  thought,  seems  almost 
incredible,  yet  in  the  form  in  which  we 
have  put  it,  it  is  not  probably  any  larger 
than  the  truth.  Enough  has  been  discov- 
ered to  justify  the  belief  of  all  that  has  yet 
been  told,  and  vastly  more. 

Besides,  when  we  take  a look  at  Nine- 
veh, by  the  light  of  Scripture,  we  have 
exactly  the  same  impression  of  a city  of 
immense  size  and  proportions.  The  ear- 
liest view  we  catch  of  this  place,  after  it  had 
reached  its  greatness,  by  the  light  of  the 
3 


34 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


Scriptures,  is  in  the  time  of  the  prophet 
Jonah. 

It  was  not  far  from  eight  hundred  and 
fifty  years  before  the  time  of  Christ  that 
this  prophet  was  sent  to  this  city,  to  proph- 
esy against  it  for  its  exceeding  wickedness 
and  corruption.  In  the  book  of  Jonah  we 
have  only  two  brief  sentences  designed  to 
give  information  as  to  the  size  of  the  city; 
and  these  are  both  somewhat  indefinite,  but 
they  alike  serve  to  reveal  a city  of  vast  pro- 
portions and  mighty  population. 

“ Now  Nineveh  was  an  exceeding  great 
city  of  three  days’  journey.’, 

This  is  one  of  the  sentences.  The  jour- 
ney here  spoken  of,  is  not  the  journey  to 
the  city,  but  the  compass  of  the  city,  or 
going  round  it  by  the  circuit  of  its  walls. 
A “ day  journey”  as  a technical  measure 
among  the  Jews,  was  about  twenty-five 
miles,  which  would  make  the  city  larger 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


35 


even  than  has  been  claimed.  But  it  may 
not  be,  that  this  technical  use  of  the  term 
is  here  intended,  and  it  is  not  perhaps 
meant  either,  that  it  was  exactly  three  days’ 
journey  around  it,  but  only  that  this  was 
in  general  about  the  time  it  would  take  to 
make  the  circuit.  This  certainly,  in  what- 
ever way  we  look  at  it,  leaves  the  impres- 
sion that  the  city  was  as  large  at  least  as 
has  been  stated. 

The  other  sentence  has  reference  more 
particularly  to  the  population  of  the  place, 
though  also  indirectly  to  its  size ; this,  too, 
is  more  or  less  indefinite,  but  still  keeps  up 
the  idea  of  a vast  and  mighty  city. 

“ And  should  not  I spare  Nineveh,  that 
great  city,  wherein  are  more  than  sixscore 
thousand  persons  that  cannot  discern  be- 
tween their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand, 
and  also  much  cattle. 

Sixscore  thousand,  are  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand , and  these  are  infants.  By 


36 


NINEVEH;  OR, 

the  description,  they  are  very  young,  and 
would  not  probably  make  up  more  than  a 
tenth  part,  at  least,  of  the  population  of  the 
place.  Supposing  them  to  be  a tenth  part, 
the  city  would  then  contain  1,200,000  in- 
habitants. This  is  an  immense  population, 
yet  not  so  great  as  some  of  the  cities  of  the 
world  now  contain,  and  probably  is  not 
greater  than  the  truth. 

We  notice  that  several  of  the  old  writers, 
in  attempting  to  make  a guess  at  the  pop- 
ulation of  Nineveh,  using  the  data  given  in 
the  passage  of. Scripture  now  before  us,  say, 
that  those  included  under  the  description 
of  persons  who  “ could  not  discern  between 
their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand,”  would 
be  children  under  three  years  of  age,  and 
that  these  would  make  probably  about  a 
fifth  part  of  the  inhabitants.  As  we  have 
met  with  this  same  essential  statement  in 
two  or  three  different  authors,  we  suppose 
that  one  copied  it  from  the  other  without 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


37 


much  thought  about  the  matter.  Accord- 
ing to  this  estimate  the  population  of  the 
city  would  be  a little  more  than  600,000  — 
a large  population  it  is  true,  but  not  large 
enough  to  fill  out  our  general  impressions 
of  the  size  of  the  place. 

We  cannot  tell  exactly  how  society  in 
that  period  of  the  world  would  compare 
with  that  of  our  own  day  in  respect  to  the 
average  age  of  its  members,  but  taking  the 
present  order  of  things  for  our  guide,  and 
the  estimate  which  we  ourselves  have  made 
is  none  too  large.  One  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  persons  under  three  years  of  age 
in  our  American  society  would  imply  a 
community  of  1,500,000,  or  thereabouts. 
The  population  of  Massachusetts  at  the 
present  time,  is  somewhat  more  than  a mill- 
ion. Taking  the  annual  returns  of  births 
(about  34,000),  and  making  the  necessary 
deduction  for  the  percentage  of  deaths  under 
three  years  of  age,  and,  as  we  compute,  it 


38 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


it  appears  that  there  are  in  Massachusetts 
not  far  from  85,000  persons  u that  cannot 
discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their 
left  hand,”  not  so  large  a number,  as  in  case 
of  Nineveh  by  35,000,  without  any  refer- 
ence to  the  “ more  ” spoken  of,  which  may 
oe  many  or  few. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  Scriptures,  though 
they  do  not  state  the  matter  definitely, 
abundantly  confirm  what  is  told  us  in  an- 
cient history  respecting  the  immense  pro-, 
portions  of  Nineveh. 

Our  description  of  the  great  temples  and 
palaces  of  the  city,  and  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  built,  we  shall  reserve  un- 
til a later  portion  of  the  book. 

We  have  a beautiful  and  graphic  picture 
of  some  things  which  were  going  on  in 
Nineveh  during  the  last  century  of  its  ex- 
istence, in  the  book  of  Tobit,  — one  of  the 
books  of  the  Apocrypha.  This  book  con- 
tains some  strange  and  extravagant  stories. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


39 


which  are  not  supposed  to  be  true.  But 
so  far  as  reference  is  made  in  it  to  the 
public  history  of  the  times,  there  has  been 
no  disposition  to  doubt  its  correctness,  and 
indeed  its  truth  is  confirmed  by  all  other 
testimony. 

Tobit  was  a Jew  of  the  tribe  of  Naph- 
thali.  He,  with  his  wife  Ajma,  and  his 
little  son  Tobias,  then  only*two  years  old, 
was  carried  captive  with  a multitude  of 
his  countrymen  to  Nineveh,  by  Shalmaneser 
in  the  year  721  before  Christ.  Tobit  was 
himself  at  this  time  only  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  He  remained  at  Nineveh  through 
a long  life,  dying  at  a great  age.  His 
death  did  not  occur  until  the  year  641 
before  Christ,  and  this  brings  us  almost 
down  to  the  time  of  the  destruction  of 
Nineveh. 

He  was  witness  to  what  was  going  on 
in  this  great  and  wicked  city,  for  about 
eighty  years,  and  could  we  now  have  a 


40 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


minute  narrative  of  his  life  during  those 
years,  it  would  be  doubtless  a story  of 
marvellous  interest.  As  it  is,  we  may  be 
grateful  for  the  few  brief  items  which  he 
has  given  us. 

Tobit  was  a man  of  more  education  and 
character  than  most  of  his  fellow-captives, 
and  was  promoted  to  office  by  the  monarch, 
just  as  Daniel  afterwards  was  in  Babylon; 
or  as  Joseph  had  been  centuries  before,  in 
Egypt.  Holding  this  prominent  position, 
he  says  of  himself,  u I gave  many  alms  to 
my  brethren,  and  gave  my  bread  to  the 
hungry,  and  my  clothes  to  the  naked ; and 
if  I saw  any  of  my  nation  dead,  or  cast 
about  the  walls  of  Nineveh,  I buried  him. 
And  if  the  king  Sennacherib  had  slain 
any,  when  he  was  come  and  fled  from 
Judea,  I buried  them  privily;  for  in  his 
wrath  he  killed  many.  And  when  one  of 
the  Ninevites  went  and  complained  to  the 
king  that  I buried  them  and  hid  myself, 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


41 


understanding  that  I was  sought  for  to  be 
put  to  death,  I withdrew  myself  for  fear.” 

There  is  more  that  is  interesting  and  in- 
structive in  this  brief  passage,  than  may 
appear  at  first  sight.  This  Sennacherib  is 
the  monarch  who  sent  the  haughty  mes- 
sage to  Hezekiah,  most  insulting  to  him,  but 
still  more  insulting  to  the  Most  High  God. 
This  message  is  contained  in  the  36th  chap- 
ter of  the  prophet  Isaiah,  and  a part  of  it  has 
already  been  quoted.  But  it  is  well  that 
our  readers  should  turn  to  it  in  this  con- 
nection and  read  it,  that  they  may  see  how 
proud  and  vain-glorious  he  was.  He  had 

been  conquering  the  nations  around,  and 

% 

now  with  a mighty  army  he  had  come  up 
and  had  taken  many  of  the  cities  of  Judea 
and  was  drawing  near  to  Jerusalem,  and 
fear  and  consternation  sat  upon  all  the 
Jews. 

Rev.  Mr.  Thomson,  missionary  in  Pales- 
tine, in  his  most  interesting  and  valuable 


42 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


volumes  entitled  “ The  Land  and  the 
Book,”  makes  a beautiful  and  stirring 
reference  to  the  suspense  and  trembling  of 
the  Jews,  on  the  approach  of  this  grand 
army  of  Sennacherib.  He  says  : 

“ All  those  places  which  you  passed 
without  visiting  are  mentioned  in  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Isaiah,  with  several  others  to 
the  north  of  them.  The  prophet  is  describ- 
ing the  approach  of  Sennacherib’s  army. 
‘ He  is  come  to  Aiath,  he  is  passed  to 
Migron;  at  Michmash  he  hath  laid  up  his 
carriages ; they  have  gone  over  the  pas- 
sage : they  have  taken  up  their  lodging  at 
Geba ; Ramah  is  afraid ; Gibeah  of  Saul 
is  fled.  Lift  up  thy  voice,  oh  daughter  of 
Gallim,  cause  it  to  be  heard  unto  Laish, 
oh  poor  Anathoth.’  Thus  one  can  follow, 
step  by  step,  the  invading  host  of  Assyria, 
until  they  reach  poor  Anathoth,  and  shake 
their  hand  against  the  mount  of  the  daugh- 
ter of  Zion  at  Nob,  which  was  the  north 
end  of  the  mount  or  Olives.” 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


43 


But  God  soon  after  interposed  to  save 
his  own  people,  and  humble  the  pride  and 
blasphemy  of  the  haughty  monarch.  By 
his  miraculous  power,  in  some  way  he  sent 
death  into  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians,  and 
in  one  night  185,000  of  them  were  de- 
stroyed. How  many  remained  alive  we 
are  not  told,  but  the  army  was  so  utterly 
shattered  and  broken  by  this  calamity,  that 
the  Assyrian  monarch,  with  those  left 
behind,  fled  with  all  haste  to  his  own 
country,  and  to  his  own  city,  Nineveh. 

It  is  to  this  return  that  Tobit  has  refer- 
ence in  his  narrative.  So  enraged  was  the 
king  at  this  loss  and  defeat,  that,  like  a 
mean,  corrupt,  and  cowardly  wretch  as  he 
was,  he  thought  to  wreak  his  vengeance 
upc>n  the  poor  captive  Jews  in  his  own 
city.  Tobit  found  the  dead  bodies  of  his 
countrymen,  lying  outside  the  city,  either 
thrown  from  the  walls,  or  carried  out  from 
the  gates  and  left  upon  the  ground,  and  he 


44 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


privately  had  them  buried.  But  as  soon  as 
this  came  to  the  ears  of  the  king  he  was 
filled  with  wrath,  that  any  one  should  pre- 
sume to  show  pity,  even  to  the  dead  bodies 
of  the  victims  of  his  rage,  and  so  Tobit 
was  to  be  put  to  death  for  manifesting 
this  sympathy  ;v  but  in  some  way  he  con- 
cealed himself  until  the  storm  was  past. 

The  destruction  of  the  army  of  Sen- 
nacherib is  the  subject  of  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  and  remarkable  little  poems  in  our 
language,  by  Byron,  which  we  cannot  here 
refrain  from  quoting,  because  its  meaning 
will  be  fully  felt  at  this  point  in  our  nar- 
rative. 

i. 

“ The  Assyrian  came  down  like  the  wolf  on  the  fold, 
And  his  cohorts  were  gleaming  with  purple  and  gold, 

And  the  sheen  of  their  spears  was  like  stars  on  the  sea. 
When  the  blue  wave  rolls  nightly  on  deep  Galilee. 


2. 

“Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest  whin  summer  is  green, 
That  host,  with  their  banners,  at  mnset  were  seen  ; 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


45 


Like  the  leaves  of  the  forest,  whi  n autumn  hath  blown, 
That  host  on  the  morrow  lay  withered  and  strown. 


3. 

“For  the  Angel  of  Death  spread  his  wings  on  the  blast, 
And  breathed  in  the  face  of  the  foe  as  he  passed ; 

And  the  eyes  of  the  sleepers  waxed  deadly ^.nd  chill 
And  their  hearts  but  once  heaved,  and  forever  grew  still ! 

4. 

* And  there  lay  the  steed,  with  his  nostril  all  wide, 

But  through  it  there  rolled  not  the  breath  of  his  pride ; 
And  the  foam  of  his  gasping  lay  white  on  the  turf. 

And  cold  as  the  spray  of  the  rock-beating  surf. 

5. 

“ And  there  lay  the  rider,  distorted  and  pale, 

With  the  dew  on  his  brow,  and  the  rust  on  his  mail, 

And  the  tents  were  all  silent,  the  banners  alone, 

The  lances  unlifted,  the  trumpets  unblown. 

6. 

“ And  the  widows  of  Ashur  are  loud  in  their -wail, 

And  the  idols  are  broke  in  the  temple  of  Baal, 

And  the  might  of  the  Gentile,  unsmote  by  the  sword. 
Hath  melted  like  snow  in  the  glance  of  the  Lord.” 


46 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


But  the  days  of  Sennacherib  were  few, 
and  the  city  was  soon  delivered  from  the 
fear  of  his  rage.  He  was  murdered  by  his 
own  sons,  not  long  after  his  return  from 
Judea. 

Tobit  still  remained  at  Nineveh.  But 
as  he  grew  old,  and  was  almost  ready  to 
die,  understanding  by  the  prophets  of  the 
Lord  in  his  own  land  that  Nineveh  was 
doomed  to  utter  destruction,  and  that  the 
time  of  the  end  drew  near,  he  enjoined 
upon  his  son  Tobias,  with  his  family,  to 
escape  out  of  the  city,  and  go  to  Media,  a 
neighboring  country,  then  under  Assyrian 
rule,  where  Tobias  had  married  his  wife. 
“ Go  into  Media,  my  son,  for  I surely  be- 
lieve those  things  which  Jonas  the  prophet 
spake  of  Nineveh,  that  it  shall  be  over- 
thrown.” u Bury  me  decently,  and  thy 
mother  with  me ; but  tarry  no  longer  in 
Nineveh.”  He  followed  the  advice  of  his 
father,  and  w ent  to  Media,  and  u died,”  as 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


47 


the  narrative  tells  us,  “ in  Ecbatana,  in  Me- 
dia  But  before  he  died  he  heard  of 

the  destruction  of  Nineveh.” 

There  is  some  disagreement  among  the 
different  writers,  as  to  the  precise  year  w hen 
Nineveh  was  destroyed,  some  fixing  it  in 
the  year  626,  some  621,  some  612,  others, 
still,  606  before  the  time  of  Christ.  It 
may  be  impossible  to  tell  the  precise  year, 
though  the  last  date  seems  the  most  prob- 
able. But  the  immediate  agents  of  its 
destruction  are  well  known.  There  was  a 
combination  between  the  power  which  had 
now  centered  around  the  city  of  Babylon, 
and  the  power  of  the  neighboring  province 
of  Media,  to  do  this  work.  The  Medes 
had  many  wrongs  to  revenge,  for  the  ages 
of  oppression  they  had  endured  from  the 
kings  of  Nineveh.  The  governor  of  Baby- 
lon, appointed  to  his  place  by  the  king  of 
Nineveh,  was,  nevertheless,  desirous  that 
Nineveh  should  be  overthrown  and  put  out 


48 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


of  the  way,  so  that  she  might  no  longer 
stand  as  a rival  to  the  newer  and  growing 
city.  Cyaxares  led  the  Medes,  and  Nabo- 
pollasar  led  the  Babylonians.  Together 
they  laid  siege  to  Nineveh,  and,  after  a long 
time,  effected  an  entrance  into  the  city,  and 
took  it,  and  when  they  had  taken  it,  it  was 
their  policy  to  lay  it  waste  as  far  as  possi- 
ble. They  destroyed  the  proud  palaces, 
and  burned  them  with  fire.  They  carried 
off  its  treasures,  and  stripped  it  of  all  its 
glory.  Henceforth  time  was  to  waste  it 
away  by  slow  degrees,  until,  in  after  ages, 
men  should  inquire  where  the  city  had 
stood. 

Thus  was  this  great  city,  which  had 
remained  for  so  many  hundreds  of  years 
as  one  of  the  proudest  seats  of  early  em- 
pire, overthrown. 

Built,  at  first,  by  Assur,  not  far  from  150 
years  after  the  flood,  it  had  stood,  amid 
many  changes,  but  in  some  form,  almost 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  49 

1600  years,  as  the  centre  of  great  move- 
ments,— the  treasnre-honse  of  a mighty 
empire.  But  when,  at  last,  the  blow  fell, 
it  was  a most  decisive  blow,  from  which 
there  was  no  recovery. 

u This  is  the  rejoicing  city,  that  dwelt 
carelessly,  that  said  in  her  heart,  I am, 
and  there  is  none  beside  me  ; how  is  she 
become  a desolation,  a place  for  beasts  to 
lie  down ! ” 


4 


50 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FULFILMENT  OF  PROPHECY  IN  THE  DESTRUCTION 
OF  NINEVEH. 

This  sudden  and  overwhelming  destruc- 
tion, which  had  come  upon  the  proud 
capital  of  Assyria,  had  ueen  long  foretold 
by  the  Jewish  prophets.  In  fact  we  no- 
where find  in  the  Scriptures  so  many 
references  to  Assyria,  and  to  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  her  chief  cities,  as  in  these  books 
of  prophecy.  And  before  going  on  with 
our  narrative,  it  will  be  useful  if  we  briefly 
notice  some  of  the  principal  prophecies 
which  foretell  the  utter  overthrow  of  the 
Assyrian  Empire,  and  especially  the  city 
of  Nineveh. 


THE  BUKIED  CITY. 


51 


The  earliest  recorded  prophecy  against 
Nineveh  is  that  contained  in  the  book  of 
Jonah.  But  this  is  not  exactly  of  the  same 
character  as  the  others.  Jonah  was  sent 
to  the  city  itself  to  prophesy  against  it, 
that  thereby  the  people  might  be  alarmed 
and  brought  to  repentance.  He  was  more 
like  an  ordinary  preacher  sent  to  warn  the 
people  of  their  sins,  and  lead  them  to  a 
better  life.  The  destruction  which  he  was 
authorized  to  declare  was  conditional,  and 
was,  in  fact,  averted  by  the  fear  and  repent- 
ance of  the  people.  But  the  other  proph- 
ets from  whom  we  shall  quote,  speak  of 
the  rain  which  is  to  come  upon  this  proud 
empire,  and  upon  this  great  city,  in  abso- 
lute terms.  They  are  not  in  the  city,  but 
are  standing  afar  off,  and  God  reveals  unto 
them  the  things  which  will  certainly  come 
to  pass. 

After  Jonah,  the  earliest  of  these  proph- 
ets who  were  especially  called  to  prophesy 


52 


NINEVEH;  OR, 

upon  this  subject,  was  Isaiah.  The  proph- 
ecies contained  in  his  book  were  uttered 
between  the  years  760  and  698  before 
Christ.  The  beginning  of  his  book,  there- 
fore, dates  back  148  years  before  the  de- 
struction  of  Nineveh,  and  he  died  some 
eighty  years  before  this  event.  He  wrote 
many  prophecies  on  this  general  subject, 
having  reference,  for  the  most  part,  to  the 
Assyrian  empire  as  a whole,  though  there 
are  many,  also,  pointing  directly  to  Baby- 
lon, whose  ruin  was  to  be  later  by  more 
than  a hundred  years,  than  that  of  Nine- 
veh. We  will  take  but  a single  prophecy 
from  Isaiah,  having  reference  clearly  to  the 
destruction  of  the  Assyrian  Empire  itself. 
This  may  be  found  in  the  tenth  chapter. 

“ Wherefore  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
when  the  Lord  hath  performed  his  whole 
work  upon  Mount  Zion,  and  upon  Jeru- 
salem, I will  punish  the  fruit  of  the  stout 
* heart  of  the  king  of  Assyria,  and  the  glory 
of  his  high  looks. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


53 


u For  he  saith,  by  the  strength  of  my 
hand  I have  done  it,  and  by  my  wisdom ; 
for  I am  prudent ; and  I have  removed  the 
bounds  of  the  people,  and  have  robbed 
their  treasures,  and  I have  put  down  the 
inhabitants  like  a valiant  man. 

“ And  my  hand  hath  found  as  a nest  the 
riches  of  the  people ; and  as  one  gathereth 
eggs  that  are  left,  have  I gathered  all  the 
earth,  and  there  was  none  that  moved  the 
wing,  or  opened  the  mouth  or  peeped.’’ 

* * * * * * * 

“ Therefore  shall  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  send  among  his  fat  ones  leanness, 
and  under  his  glory,  he  shall  kindle  a burn- 
ing like  the  burning  of  a fire.” 

* # * # * * * 

“ And  shall  consume  the  glory  of  his 
forest  and  of  his'  fruitful  field,  both  soul 
and  body;  and  they  shall  be  as  when  a 
standard-bearer  fainteth. 

i 

“ And  the  rest  of  the  trees  of  his  forest 
shall  be  few,  that  a child  may  write  them.” 


54 


NINEVEH;  OR, 

Here  the  lofty  pride  of  the  Assyrian 
kings  is  described,  and  their  utter  ruin  and 
overthrow  is  clearly  predicted.  But  the 
language  is  general,  as  of  one  standing  at 
quite  a distance,  in  time,  from  the  days 
when  the  prophecy  should  be  fulfilled.  We 
shall  find  that  some  of  the  prophets  who 
lived  nearer  the  event,  are  much  more  mi- 
nute and  specific  in  their  descriptions. 

The  prophet  Nahum  seems  to  have  been 
especially  employed  of  God  to  foretell  the 
ruin  of  Nineveh.  His  book  is  a very  short 
one,  only  three  chapters,  but  it  is  wholly 
occupied  with  this  subject.  He  is  supposed 
to  have  written  in  the  year  713  before 
Christ,  or  just  about  one  hundred  years 
before  the  fall  of  Nineveh.  We  will  select 
a few  of  the  most  notable  passages  in  this 
book,  though  the  whole  of  it  should  be 
read,  to  understand  the  terrible  earnestness 
of  the  language.  His  prophecy  is  entitled 
tk  The  burden  of  Nineveh.” 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


55 


“ He  that  dasheth  in  pieces  is  come  up 
before  thy  face ; keep  the  munition,  watch 
the  way,  make  thy  loins  strong,  fortify  thy 
power  mightily. 

* * * * * * * 

“ The  chariots  shall  rage  in  the  streets, 
they  shall  jostle  one  against  another  in  the 
broad  ways ; they  shall  seem  like  torches, 
they  shall  run  like  the  lightnings. 

* * * * * * * 

“ The  gates  of  the  rivers  shall  be  opened 
and  the  palace  shall  be  dissolved. 

******* 

“ But  Nineveh  is  of  old  like  a pool  of 
water ; yet  they  shall  flee  away.  Stand, 
stand,  shall  they  cry,  but  none  shall  look 
back. 

“ Take  ye  the  spoil  of  silver,  take  the 
spoil  of  gold : for  there  is  none  end  of  the 
store  and  glory  out  of  all  the  pleasani 
furniture. 

* * * * * * * 


56  NINEVEH;  OR, 

“ Wo  to  the  bloody  city ! it  is  full  of  lies 
and  robbery  : the  prey  departeth  not, 

• •••••• 

“ And  it  shall  come  to  pass  that  all  they 
tfiat  look  upon  thee  shall  flee  from  thee, 
and  say  Nineveh  is  laid  waste : who  will 
bemoan  her,  whence  shall  I seek  comfort- 
ers for  thee  ? 

• • • • • • • 

“ There  shall  the  fire  devour  thee,  the 
sword  shall  cut  thee  off,  it  shall  eat  thee 
up  like  the  canker-worm. 

# # • • • • • 

u Thy  people  is  scattered  upon  the  moun- 
tains and  no  man  gathereth  them. 

“ There  is  no  healing  of  this  bruise,  thy 
wound  is  grievous,  all  that  hear  the  bruit 
of  thee  shall  clap  their  hands  over  thee,  for 
upon  whom  hath  not  thy  wickedness  passed 
continually 

If  this  prophecy  of  Nahum,  written  a 
hundred  years  before  the  event,  had  been 


THE  BUTtlED  CITY 


57 


a description,  by  an  eye-witness,  of  what 
took  place  when  the  combined  armies  of 
the  Medes  and  Babylonians  entered  the 
city  in  triumph,  it  could  hardly  have  been 
more  true  and  graphic  than  it  is  now.  The 
whole  prophecy  is  a picture  of  sudden  and 
wholesale  destruction.  Generally,  when  a 
great  city  like  this  is  taken  by  a conquering 
army,  there  is  a desire  to  save  it  from  utter 
ruin,  so  that  it  may  serve  to  increase  the 
power  and  dominion  of  the  victorious 
nation.  But  in  this  instance  the  king  of 
Babylon  wanted  to  ruin  the  place  — to  blot 
it  from  existence  so  far  as  he  could,  that  it 
might  not  stand  as  a rival  of  his  own  city. 
And  the  king  of  the  Medes,  who  had  for 
his  principal  motive  to  revenge  the  awful 
wrongs  of  the  past,  and  especially  the 
death  of  his  own  father,  was  entirely  will- 
ing to  lend  his  hand  in  an  enterprise  like 
this.  And  so  the  work  of  destruction  went 
on.  Fire  and  water,  and  any  and  every 


58 


NINEVEn;  OR, 


agent  they  could  employ  were  used  to  lay 
it  in  a heap  of  ruins. 

The  prophecy  says,  “ The  gates  of  the 
rivers  shall  be  opened.”  This  refers,  prob- 
ably, to  what  was  a fact  in  the  taking  of 
the  city.  At  a certain  spot  where  the  walls 
of  the  city  ran  along  by  the  river  Tigris, 
Ihe  water,  in  a time  of -freshet,  had  under- 
mined and  weakened  them,  so  that  they 
were  almost  ready  to  fall.  Here,  it  is  said, 
the  invading  army  made  its  entrance. 

That  fire  was  also  freely  used  to  insure 
its  destruction,  we  shall  learn  by  some 
interesting  facte,  which  will  come  out  at  a 
later  portion  of  our  narrative. 

The  prophet  Zephaniah  wrote  in  the 
year  630  before  Christ,  only  a few  years 
before  the  destruction  of  the  city.  He  has 
one  very  clear  and  remarkable  prophecy 
touching  the  utter  ruin  which  should  come 
upon  Nineveh. 

“ And  he  will  stretch  out  his  hand 


THE  BURIED.  CITY. 


59 


against  the  north  and  destroy  Assyria ; 
and  will  make  Nineveh  a desolation,  and 
dry  like  a wilderness. 

“ And  flocks  shall  lie  down  in  the  midst 
of  her,  and  all  the  beasts  of  the  nations, 
both  the  cormorant  and  bittern  shall  lodge 
in  the  upper  lintels  of  it : their  voice  shall 
sing  in  the  windows : desolation  shall  be 
in  the  thresholds  : for  he  shall  uncover  the 
cedar  work. 

“ This  is  the  rejoicing  citv  that  dwelt 
carelessly,  that  said  in  her  heart,  I am  and 
there  is  none  beside  me  : how  is  she  be- 
come a desolation,  a place  for  beasts  to  lie 
down  in : every  one  that  passeth  by  her 
shall  hiss  and  wag  his  hand.” 

This  is  a picture  of  what  might  have 
been  seen,  doubtless,  a hundred  years  after 
the  conquest  of  the  city,  when  silence 
brooded  over  a place  that  had  so  long 
been  full  of  life,  and  when  the  old  ruins 
of  walls  and  palaces"  were  wasting  away 
by  a slow  decay. 


60 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


The  prophets  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and 
Daniel  wrote  after  the  time  of  the  over- 
throw of  Nineveh,  and  though  they  have 
abundant  prophecies  respecting  a like  de- 
struction which  was  to  come  upon  Baby- 
lon, and  upon  the  whole  of  this  old 
Assyrian  power,  their  prophecies  do  not, 

of  course,  refer  distinctly  to  the  ruin  of 

# 

Nineveh.  But  the  description  given  by 
Ezekiel,  in  the  31st  chapter  of  his  book, 
of  the  general  ruin  of  this  Assyrian  Em- 
pire, is  so  full  of  life  and  beauty  and  power, 
that  we  will,  in  cfosing  this  chapter,  quote 
a few  sentences  from  it. 

“ Behold,  the  Assyrian  was  a cedar  in 
Lebanon  with  fair  branches,  and  with  a 
shadowing  shroud,  and  of  an  high  stature ; 
and  his  top  was  among  the  thick  boughs. 

“ The  waters  made  him  great,  the  deep 
set  him  up  on  high  with  her  rivers  running 
round  about  his  plants,  and  sent  out  her 
little  rivers  unto  all  the  trees  of  the  field. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


61 


“ Therefore  his  height  was  exalted  above 
all  the  trees  of  the  field,  and  his  boughs 
'were  multiplied,  and  his  branches  became 
long  because  of  the  multitude  of  waters, 
when  he  shot  forth. 

u All  the  fowls  of  heaven  made  their 
nests  in  his  boughs,  and  under  his  branches 
did  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  bring  forth 
their  young,  and  under  his  shadow  dwelt 
all  great  nations. 

“ Thus  was  he  fair  in  his  greatness,  in 
the  length  of  his  branches : for  his  root 
was  by  great  waters. 

“ The  cedars  in  the  garden  of  God  could 
not  hide  him : the  fir-trees  were  not  like 
his  boughs,  and  the  chestnut-trees  were 
not  like  his  branches  ; not  any  tree  in  the 
garden  of  God  was  like  unto  him  in  his 
beauty. 

“ I have  made  him  fair  by  the  multitude 
of  his  branches;  so  that  all  the  trees  of 


62 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


Eden,  that  were  in  the  garden  of  God,  en- 
vied him. 

“ Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  God ; 
Beciuse  thou  hast  lifted  up  thyself  in 
height,  and  he  hath  shot  up  his  top  among 
the  thick  boughs,  and  his  heart  is  lifted  up 
in  his  height ; 

u I have  therefore  delivered  him  into  the 
hand  of  the  mighty  one  of  the  heathen  ; 
he  shall  surely  deal  with  him:  I have 
driven  him  out  for  his  wickedness. 

u And  strangers,  the  terrible  of  the  na- 
tions, have  cut  him  off,  and  have  left  him : 
upon  the  mountains  and  in  all  the  valleys 
his  branches  are  fallen,  and  his  boughs  are 
broken  by  all  the  rivers  of  the  land ; and 
all  the  people  of  the  earth  are  gone  down 
from  his  shadow^  and  have  left  him. 

“ Upon  his  ruin  shall  all  the  fowls  of  the 
heaven  remain,  and  all  the  beasts  of  the 
field  shall  be  upon  his  branches.” 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


63 


And  so,  almost  twenty-five  centuries 
ago,  this  great  and  proud  city  fell,  and 
passed  by  degrees  out  of  the  thought  and 
notice  of  men.  And  here  we  take  leave 
of  her  in  her  ancient  form,  to  find  her 
again  in  our  own  day  in  another  and 
stranger  form. 


64 


NINEVEH}  OR, 


CHAPTER  V 

AGES  OF  DESOLATION. 

When  Nineveh  was  destroyed,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  former  chapters,  it  is  not  to 
be  supposed  that  all  the  inhabitants  were 
instantly  removed,  and  that  the  place  from 
that  moment  was  left  utterly  destitute  and 
forsaken.  But  its  glory  was  all  gone.  Its 
line  of  kings  was  at  an  end.  Its  proud 
temples  and  palaces  were  overthrown.  The 
body  of  its  people  were  doubtless  carried 
into  captivity.  Some,  probably,  stayed 
behind,  who  may  have  kept  their  abodes 
among  the  ruinous  heaps  which  the  con- 
quering and  destroying  armies  had  left. 


* 


r 


t 


l 

I 

I 

I 

I 

1 


< 


Assyrian  Priest. 

Nineveh.  Fa?e  65. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


65 


But  it  was  a doomed  place.  The  old  life 
had  gone.  There  was  little  now  to  attract 
or  make  a motive  for  staying  there,  and  so 
the  remaining  inhabitants  would  from  time 
to  time  drop  away,  leaving  the  work  of  de- 
cay to  go  on  unchecked. 

It  is  wonderful  how  soon  Nineveh  passed 
from  its  state  of  full  splendor  into  niter 
silence  and  forgetfulness.  Still,  we  can 
understand  that  when  left  to  itself,  with  no 
one  to  repair  its  rains,  or  rebuild  its  walls, 
the  work  of  dissolution  would  go  on  very 
rapidly.  Had  its  structures  been  of  solid 
stone,  they  would  have  endured  for  many 
centuries  the  action  of  the  elements.  But 
as  the  chief  part  of  their  walls  and  build- 
ings were  of  sun-dried  brick,  they  could 
not  endure  the  effects  of  time.  Especially 
when  exposed  to  the  copious  and  long  >con- 
tinued  rains  which  prevail  there  every 
year,  during  what  is  called  the  rainy  sea- 
son, they  would  gradually  be  softened  and 

5 ' 


6*5 


NINEVEIi;  OR, 


washed  down  to  the  level  of  the  earth 
The  only  parts  of  the  buildings  which 
could  withstand  this  action,  as  we  shall 
see,  were  by  degrees  covered  up  by  the 
looser  and  more  perishable  materials  above, 
and  in  a few  centuries  nothing  would 
reach  the  eye  to  show  that  a city  had  ever 
stood  there. 

Herodotus,  who  is  called  the  father  of 
history,  and  who  wrote  about  150  years 
after  the  fall  of  Nineveh,  makes  mention 
of  it,  not  at  all  as  a place  then  existing, 
but  as  a vanished  city.  lie  travelled  exten- 
sively through  all  that  part  of  the  world, 
and  had  the  ruins  of  Nineveh  then  re- 
mained, in  any  thing  like  the  shape  they 
must  have  had  immediately  after  its  over- 
throw, he  would  not  have  spoken  of  it  as 
he  did.  His  allusions  are  wholly  to  some- 
thing past  and  gone,  and  almost  forgotten. 

Xenophon,  who  lived  some  thirty  or 
forty  vears  later,  and  who  was  a historian, 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


67 


as  well  as  a great  military  leader,  is  said 
to  have  marched  his  army,  in  his  expe- 
dition against  Persia,  across  the  very  spot 
where  the  old  Nineveh  stood,  and,  though 
he  saw  some  remarkable  remains  of  old 
structures,  and  makes  mention  of  them  in 
his  narrative,  he  seems  not  to  have  had  the 
faintest  idea  that  he  was  on  the  site  of  the 
ancient  Assyrian  capital.  This  was  less 
than  two  hundred  years  after  Nineveh  had 
fallen,  and  it  shows  us  how  fast  the  process 
of  decay  had  gone  on.  Had  he  found 
there  any  thing  like  those  old  walls,  sixty 
miles  in  circuit,  one  hundred  feet  high  and 
fifty  feet  thick,  with  fifteen  hundred  towers, 
his  attention  must  have  been  at  once  ar- 
rested. But  two  hundred  years  would 
suffice,  probably,  to  wash  them  down 
almost  to  a level  with  the  plain.  Two 
hundred  years  is  not  a very  long  time  in 
the  whole  history  of  the  world,  but  it  is 
long  enough  to  make  sad  work  with  walls 


r>8 


nineveh; or, 


and  towers,  built  of  no  stronger  materials 
than  these. 

Alexander  the  Great,  a hundred  years 
later,  in  his  work  of  Eastern  conquest, 
inarched  his  armies  through  this  region  of 
country,  and  fought  one  of  his  great  bat- 
tles only  a few  miles  from  the  place  where 
the  old  city  stood,  but  the  narrative  makes 
no  mention  even  of  ruins,  and  it  is  likely 
that  he  had  no  knowledge  whatever  that  a 
great  city  had  ever  stood  there.  All  traces 
of  the  place,  such  as  would  easily  and  at 
once  arrest  the  eye  of  the  passing  traveller, 
had  probably  perished.  It  is  safe  to  say, 
that  before  the  time  of  Christ  all  certain 
knowledge  of  where  Nineveh  once  stood 
had  apparently  died  out,  and  if  men 
thought  of  the  city  at  all,  they  thought 
of  it  as  something  vanished  and  lost. 

For  about  two  thousand  years,  there- 
fore, the  old  prophecies  respecting  Nineveh 
have  been  literally  fulfilled.  It  has  been 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


69 


“a  desolation,  a place  for  beasts  to  lie 
down  in.” 

In  these  later  ages  of  the  world,  since 
the  revival  of  learning,  and  since  the  work 
of  investigation  and  discovery  in  every 
part  of  the  earth  has  been  pushed  forward 
with  such  vigor,  though  it  has  been  a com- 
mon sentiment  among  scholars  and  think- 
ing men  that  the  place  where  the  ancient 
city  stood  could  not  be  certainly  told,  yet, 
for  two  or  three  hundred  years,  travellers 
have  been  inclined  to  locate  it  on  the  river 
Tigris,  opposite  a place  called  Mosul. 
They  have  not  asserted  this  positively,  but 
this  has  been  the  theory,  and  it  has  now 
been  proved  true. 

To  show  that  this  has  been  the  common 
idea  for  the  last  two  or  three  centuries,  w^e 
will  give  a few  brief  extracts  from  differ- 
ent authors.  Colonel  Campbell,  an  English 
traveller  of  the  last  century,  says  : 

“ It  was  early  in  the  evening  when  the 


70 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


pointed  turrets  of  the  city  of  Mosul  opened 
on  our  view,  and  communicated  no  very 
unpleasant  sensations  to  my  heart.  I found 
myself  on  Scripture  ground,  and  could  not 
help  feeling  some  portion  of  the  pride  of 
the  traveller,  when  I reflected  that  I was 
now  within  sight  of  Nineveii,  renowned 
in  Holy  Writ.  The  city  (Mosul)  is  seated 
in  a very  barren,  sandy  plain,  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Tigris.” 

Prideaux,  who  wrote  his  great  work  a 
hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  speaking  of 
this  ancient  city  says  : “ It  is  at  this  day 
called  Mosul,  and  is  only  famous  for  being 
the  seat  of  the  patriarch  of  the  Nestori- 
ans.” 

About  one  hundred  years  ago  the  cele- 
brated German  traveller,  Niebuhr,  went 
through  this  portion  of  the  world.  He 
visited  this  spot,  described  what  he  saw, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  that  this  was 
indeed  the  place  where,  of  old,  Nineveh 
had  stood. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


71 


These,  as  will  be  seen,  are  compara- 
tively modern  authors.  Most  of  the  writers 
who  have  held  this  theory  with  regard  to 
the  site  of  Nineveh,  have  lived  within  two 
hundred  years.  From  that  time,  back  t< 
a period  before  the  coming  of  Christ,  ver, 
little  was  said  upon  the  subject,  and  then 
was  no  • conception,  apparently,  as  to  thf 
precise  spot  on  which  the  city  had  stood. 

It  seems  like  a special  providence  of  God 
that  a city  which  had  been  so  long  the 
proudest  and  grandest  city  of  the  early 
world,  — the  seat  of  empire,  the  abode  of 
famous  and  haughty  kings,  the  place 
toward  which  all  the  nations  around  looked 
with  fear  and  trembling,  — should  be  so 
quickly  and  utterly  wiped  off  from  the 
face  of  the  earth.  It  is  a most  thorough 
and  complete  fulfilment  of  the  ancient 
prophecies,  prophecies  uttered  at  a time 
when  nothing  seemed  more  unlikely,  to  all 
human  view,  than  such  a result  as  this. 


72 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


If  a number  of  men  should  now  predict 
a like  fate  to  the  city  of  London,  it  would 
not  seem  any  more  strange  and  improbable 
to  the  people  of  our  day  than  did  these 
prophecies  respecting  Nineveh  to  the  men 
who  lived  in  the  times  of  these  ancient 
prophets.  u Nineveh  to  be  utterly  de- 
stroyed ! ” they  would  say,  “ to  be  a place 
for  the  birds  of  the  air  and  the  beasts  of 
the  field  to  inhabit ! ” yea,  more  than  this, 
to  be  so  utterly  consumed  and  forsaken, 
that  for  thousands  of  years  men  shall  not 
even  know,  with  certainty,  where  it  stood ! 
Impossible!  Why,  Nineveh  is  the  very 
centre  of  the  world!  There  is  more  of 
power  and  dominion,  of  riches  and  glory, 
gathered  there,  than  at  any  other  place  in 
all  the  earth ! How  is  she  to  be  so  com- 
pletely destroyed?  Where  is  the  nation 
or  people  to  come  from,  to  do  this  ? ” 

So  men  would  have  reasoned,  and,  doubt- 
less, did  reason.  But  God  had  purposed 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


73 


her  overthrow,  and,  in  His  own  time,  it 
came,  with  all  the  suddenness  and  earnest- 
ness which  the  language  of  the  prophets 
had  indicated.  The  proud  capital  of  the 
old  Assyrian  Empire,  which  had  stood  so 
long,  in  all  its  stateliness,  in  a few  centu- 
ries was  out  of  sight,  so  that  men  marched 
their  armies  over  the  spot,  and  knew  not 
that  a city  had  been  there. 

We  have  already  given  a few  extracts 
from  writers  of  the  last  century,  showing 
that  modern  travellers  had  formed  an  opin- 
ion as  to  where  the  city  stood,  and,  as 
already  intimated,  that  opinion  was  correct. 
Little,  however,  was  said  or  thought  about 
the  subject  until  the  present  century.  In 
the  year  1820,  Mr.  Rich,  an  English  gentle- 
man, agent  of  the  East  India  company, 
and  resident  at  Bagdad,  on  the  Tigris, 
interested  himself,  in  his  leisure  hours,  in 
searching  for  antiquities  through  all  the 
surrounding  country.  His  place  of  resi- 


74 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


donee  was  midway  between  the  sites  of 
ancient  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  and  he 
made  excursions  in  all  directions  to  pick 
up  any  thing  curious  which  he  might  find 
around  these  early  seats  of  empire.  He 
fixed  upon  the  spot  where  he  believed 
ancient  Babylon  stood,  for  this,  also,  has 
been  a serious  question  among  scholars. 
He  visited  the  old  foundations  of  Nineveh, 
and  sent  home  some  specimens  of  the  sun- 
dried  brick  used  in  the  Assyrian  structures, 
which  he  happened  to  find  somewhere,  in 
a good  state  of  preservation.  Dr.  Robin- 
son, one  of  our  most  eminent  American 
scholars,  author  of  “ Researches  in  Pales- 
tine and  Mt.  Sinai,”  says  of  Mr.  Rich, 
“ He  obtained  a few  square  sun-dried 
bricks,  with  inscriptions,  and  some  other 
slight  remains ; and  we  can  all  remember 
the  profound  impression  made  upon  the 
public  mind,  even  by  these  cursory  memo- 
rials of  Nineveh  and  Babylon.” 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


75 


The  author  of  this  little  volume  can 
bear  testimony  to  the  <c  profound  impres- 
sion ” here  spoken  of.  It  was  his  privilege, 
many  years  ago,  to  see  one  of  these  sun- 
dried  bricks,  which  had  been  sent  to  an 
eminent  scientific  man  in  this  country,  — 
probably  one  of  the  identical  specimens 
that  had  been  forwarded  to  England  by 
Mr.  Rich.  As  nearly  as  we  remember 
it  was  about  ten  inches  square,  and  about 
four  or  five  inches  thick.  It  seemed  strange 
and  marvellous  thus  to  look  upon  a piece 
of  the  material  with  which  the  walls  and 
palaces  of  Nineveh  had  been  built,  three 
thousand  years  before.  Men  little  dreamed 
at  that  time,  that  in  a very  few  years  won- 
ders and  marvels  would  be  revealed,  touch- 
ing this  ancient  city,  compared  with  which 
a few  bricks  would  be  of  very  small 
account. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things,  when  an 
Englishman  by  the  name  of  Layard  (a 


76 


* » 

NINEVEH;  OR, 

name  which  we  shall  have  very  frequent 
occasion  to  use  during  the  remainder  ot 
this  volume,  and  which  is  pronounced  as 
one  syllable,  and  not  as  two,  very  much  as 
though  it  were  written  Lay’rd),  on  a jour- 
ney of  pleasure  and  curiosity  through  the 
East,  came  to  Mosul.  He  wandered  through 
the  country  around,  during  his  short  stay, 
and  was  very  much  struck  with  the  huge 
mounds,  scattered  about  here  and  there, 
over  quite  a wide  region,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river  from  Mosul.  These 
mounds  had  attracted  the  attention,  of 
course,  of  previous  travellers,  but  seem  not 
to  have  had  such  an  effect  upon  their 
minds  as  they  did  upon  his.  He  says,  in 
his  narrative,  “ These  huge  mounds  of 
Assyria  made  a deeper  impression  upon 
me,  gave  rise  to  more  serious  thought  and 
more  earnest  reflection,  than  the  temples 

of  Balbec  or  the  ruins  of  Ionia My 

curiosity  had  been  greatly  excited,  and 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


77 


from  that  time  I formed  the  design  of 
thoroughly  examining,  whenever  it  might 
be  in  my  power,  these  singular  ruins.” 

The  reason  of  this  strong  impression 
doubtless  was,  that  Layard  perceived,  more 
clearly  than  any  one  who  had  gone  before 
him,  that  these  huge  mounds  were  not 
natural  hills,  but  must  have  been  built  up 
in  this  way,  at  some  time  in  the  past,  by 
the  hand  of  man.  The  country  around, 
for  a great  distance,  is  a vast  plain.  It  is 
the  old  plain  of  Shinar,  which  men  found, 
as  they  journeyed  eastward,  soon  after  the 
flood.  To  the  mind  of  Layard,  it  was  not 
likely  that  such  hillocks  as  these  should 
spring  up,  by  any  natural  process,  out  of 
this  level  plain.  He  saw  a human  instru- 
mentality in  it,  and  felt  if  these  mounds 
could  be  torn  in  pieces,  and  thoroughly 
examined,  they  would  probably  reveal 
something  strange  and  curious,  he  knew 
not  what. 

/ 


78 


NINEVEH;  OR. 


And  we  may  as  well,  at  thi3  point,  give 
our  readers  some  idea  of  the  size  of  these 
mounds.  They  are  not  little  piles  of  earth, 
like  haystacks,  but  are  so  immense  that  they 
seem  like  mountains.  Some  of  these  mounds 
have  been  named,  and  we  shall  call  them 
by  their  names,  though  it  may  trouble  our 
young  readers  to  pronounce  them.  Im- 
mediately opposite  Mosul,  and  not  far 
from  the  river,  is  the  mound  Kouyunjik. 
This  mound  is  nearly  a mile  and  a half  in 
circuit,  and  is  raised  about  fifty  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  surrounding  plain.  It  is 
more  than  twice  as  far  around  it  as  Boston 
Common. 

Down  the  River  Tigris  about  eighteen 
miles  is  the  mound  Nimroud,  standing 
also  near  the  river,  and  this  is  about  half 
a mile  in  circuit.  Some  twelve  miles  to 
the  northeast  from  Nimroud,  is  another 
great  mound,  Karamles,  and  then  about 
eighteen  miles  north  from  Karamles  is 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


79 


another,  named  Khorsabad.  These  four 
are  supposed  to  stand  near  the  corners  of 
what  was  the  old  city  of  Nineveh,  — near 
the  comers  of  the  irregular  parallelogram 
which  we  have  already  described.  A par- 
allelogram shaped  so  as  just  to  take  in 
these  four  mounds,  will  measure,  according 
to  the  distances  given  above,  sixty  miles, 
though  the  sides  are  slightly  different  in 
length  from  the  measurements  given  by 
the  old  writers. 

These  were  some  of  the  great  mounds 
which  Layard  saw,  in  the  year  1840,  and 
which  made  such  a deep  impression  upon 
his  mind.  In  the  summer  of  1842  he  went 
again  to  Mosul,  to  survey  the  country.  He 
found  that  a Frenchman  by  the  name  of 
Botta,  who  had  recently  been  stationed,  as 
French  consul,  at  Mosul,  was  doing  some- 
thing in  the  way  of  exploring  these 
mounds.  Botta  commenced  his  operations 
at  the  great  mound  Kouyunjik,  just  oppo- 


80 


NINEVEH)  OR, 


site  Mosul.  He  found  some  of  the  old 
bricks,  and  a few  fragments  of  ancient 
sculpture.  Not  meeting,  however,  with  the 
success  which  he  had  hoped  for,  he  left 
Kouyunjik  and  went  to  Khorsabad,  eigh- 
teen miles  to  the  northeast,  — to  the  great 
mound  already  mentioned,  which  lies  in 
the  upper  corner  of  the  grand  parallelo- 
gram. He  had  acquainted  the  French 
government  at  home  with  what  he  was 
doing,  and,  with  a liberal  spirit,  some  funds 
were  appropriated  by  government  for  his 
use  in  carrying  on  his  work,  and  a skilful 
draftsman  was  sent  out  to  take  copies  of 
every  thing  of  importance  that  might  be 
discovered. 

In  excavating  at  Khorsabad,  Botta  soon 
struck  upon  the  remains  of  old  buildings. 
Here  he  began  to  find  huge  marble  slabs, 
set  up  around  all  the  rooms  of  these  an- 
cient edifices,  and  covered  over  with  figures 
of  men  riding  upon  horses,  troops  of  foot 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


81 


soldiers,  kings,  priests,  images  of  gods,  and 
the  like,  covering  the  walls  in  endless  pro- 
fusion. These  slabs  were  six,  seven,  eight, 
or  nine  feet  high  (varying  in  different 
rooms,  though  equal  in  height  in  the  same 
room),  four  or  five  feet  wide,  and  four  or 
five  inches  thick.  The  figures  were  cut 
upon  them  in  bas-relief,  that  is,  they  stood 
out  but  a little  way  from  the  surface  of  the 
stone. 

These  slabs,  of  course,  were  of  a very 
different  material  from  the  sun-dried  bricks 
of  which  we  have  frequently  spoken,  and 
which  were  so  easily  destroyed.  They 
were  made  of  a kind  of  marble-alabaster, 
as  it  is  called,  which  largely  abounds  in 
that  portion  of  the  world.  It  is  not  a very 
hard  stone,  and  was,  therefore,  easily 
worked  by  the  graver’s  tools.  The  princi- 
pal walls  of  all  these  structures  were  made 
of  brick.  But  they  were  faced  with  these 
stone  slabs  on  the  inside,  so  that  a person 
6 


82 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


wandering  through  these  rooms  had  ever 
before  him  these  countless  images  and 
representations  upon  the  walls.  The  build- 
ings were,  originally,  carried  up  much 
higher,  doubtless,  with  wood  and  brick,  — 
perishable  materials,  which  would  decay 
and  fall  in  pieces,  — but  these  stones  were 
more  enduring,  and  kept  their  places,  partly 
by  their  own  strength  and  partly  by  the 
rubbish  which  was  piled  around  and  above 
them,  and  so  helped  to  sustain  them. 

But  Botta  found,  in  the  mound  which  he 
opened  at  Khorsabad,  that,  as  soon  as  these 
slabs  were  uncovered,  and  he  attempted  to 
take  them  down  from  the  walls,  they 
fell  to  pieces.  Now  there  was  no  reason 
for  this  in  the  nature  of  the  stone  itself. 
These  stones,  in  their  natural  state,  would 
endure  for  uncounted  ages,  just  as  well  as 
they  would  endure  in . the  quarries  from 
which  they  were  taken.  There  must  be 
some  reason  why  they  should  crumble  at 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


83 


the  first  touch.  The  reason  was,  that  this 
building,  when  it  was  destroyed,  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire.  Fire,  acting  upon  lime- 
stone rock  (of  which  this  is  one  variety), 
takes  away  all  its  hardness,  and  prepares  it 
to  crumble  and  perish.  At  the  time  of  the 
burning,  the  looser  materials  from  above 
were  piled  in  to  the  centre  of  the  building, 
and  the  brick  walls  on  the  outside  of  the 
slabs  kept  their  places,  and  by  degrees  a 
natural  soil  formed  over  the  spot,  and  so 
the  slabs  had  been  held  where  they  were. 
But  the  moment  the  attempt  was  made  to 
handle  them  they  broke  into  little  frag- 
ments. 

That  building,  doubtless,  was  burned  by 
the  victorious  armies  of  the  Medes  and 
Babylonians,  when  they  entered  the  city 
606  before  Christ,  and  every  thing  had  re- 
mained there  for  almost  2,500  years,  just 
as  it  was  left  at  that  great  destruction. 

We  shall  see,  as  we  go  on,  that  all  the 


84 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


buildings  were  not  destroyed  by  fire 
Layard  was  fortunate  in  opening  into  a 
mound,  where  these  slabs  were  just  as 
hard  as  in  the  day  when  they  were  put 
there,  so  that  they  have  been  taken  down 
and  sent  all  over  the  world. 

Botta,  finding  that  he  could  not  remove 
the  slabs  without  destroying  them,  did  the 
next  best  thing.  lie  uncovered  some  of 
them  carefully,  and  had  his  draughtsman 
copy  every  thing  upon  them.  With  these 
copies,  and  with  such  curious  relics  as  he 
could  find,  he  soon  closed  his  work  and 
went  home  to  France,  having  accomplished 
wonders  in  comparison  with  what  had 
ever  before  been  done,  but  little  in  com- 
parison with  what  was  to  come  to  pass 
afterwards. 

In  the  autumn  of  1845,  Mr.  Layard  set 
out  for  Mosul  to  enter  upon  his  great 
work.  Sir  Stratford  Canning,  an  English 
nobleman,  who  had  been  for  many  years 


IHE  BURIED  CITY. 


85 


English  ambassador  at  Constantinople,  a 
man  of  most  wise  and  generous  mind  and 
heart,  had  offered  to  bear  the  expense  of 
the  undertaking  for  a time,  and  it  was 
under  his  care  and  patronage  that  Layard 
made  ready  for  the  enterprise. 

When  he  reached  Mosul  he  hired  a large 
number  of  the  natives  of  the  country,  wild 
and  superstitious  fellows,  who  hardly  knew 
whether  it  was  safe  or  not  to  disturb  the 
old  ruins,  over  which  their  fathers  had  for 
so  many  generations  walked,  but  they 
were  induced  by  the  prospect  of  good  pay 
to  engage  in  the  service. 

With  every  thing  ready,  Layard  con- 
cluded not  to  follow  in  the  track  of  Botta, 
but  to  try  his  fortune  with  the  mound 
Nimroud,  already  spoken  of,  about  eigh- 
teen miles  below  Mosul,  in  the  most  south- 
ern corner  of  the  grand  parallelogram. 


86 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


CHAPTER  VI. 

EXPLORING  THE  MOUND  OF  NIMROUD. 

In  the  narrative  upon  which  we  enter  in 
this  chapter  we  shall  not  attempt  to  follow 
the  exact  order  of  events,  day  by  day,  as 
the  work  of  opening  this  mound  pro- 
gressed. Our  space  would  not  allow  of 
this,  and  we  might,  in  this  way,  make  the 
story  somewhat  tedious  for  our  young 
readers.  But  we  shall  endeavor  to  give 
the  general  character  of  these  explorations, 
with  some  of  the  chief  rgsults  reached. 

Layard,  with  his  little  company  of  men 
hired  for  the  purpose,  began  his  operations 
at  the  mound  Nimroud,  on  the  8th  of  No- 
vember, 1845.  His  first  object  was,  to 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


87 


determine,  by  a careful  observation,  at 
what  point  it  was  best  that  the  digging 
should  commence.  During  the  first  day 
they  opened  the  earth  slightly  at  several 
different  places,  and  found  traces  of  the 
peculiar  walls  which  Botta  had  discovered 
at  Khorsabad.  At  some  places  it  was  evi- 
dent that  these  walls,  like  those  at  Khorsa- 
bad, had  been  subjected  to  great  heat,  as 
they  fell  to  pieces  when  any  attempt  was 
made  to  move  them.  At  other  points, 
however,  the  stones  were  sound,  and  gave 
no  evidence  of  the  action  of  fire.  At  one 
place,  on  digging  down  to  the  bottom  of 
the  slabs,  a large  quantity  of  charcoal  was 
found,  made,  doubtless,  by  the  burning 
timbers,  at  the  time  the  building  was  de- 
stroyed, and  here  the  slabs  showed  the 
effect  of  the  heat. 

Going  on  with  these  researches,  he  at 
length  decided  to  begin  his  work  in  good 
earnest  at  the  southwest  corner  of  the 


88 


nineveii;  OR, 


mound.  lie  brought  the  labors  of  all  his 
men,  now  numbering  some  twelve  or  four- 
teen, to  bear  upon  this  point.  In  a few 
days  he  increased  his  working  force  to 
thirty  men,  still  keeping  on  the  same  part 
of  the  mound.  They  soon  found  traces 
of  walls,  but  it  was  some  time  before  it 
could  be  determined  what  their  relation 
was  to  each  other,  or  to  the  great  structure 
of  which  they  formed  a part  But,  as  the 
earth  was  more  and  more  removed,  at 
length  they  begin  to  make  their  way,  step 
by  step,  into  the  apartments  of  what  had, 
evidently,  been  a vast  building.  On  the 
28th  of  November,  twenty  days  after  the 
work  began,  he  found  the  sculptured  slabs, 
such  as  we  have  described.  He  had  found 
many  of  the  same  kind  of  slabs  before, 
with  inscriptions  upon  them  in  a strange 
language,  but,  up  to  this  time,  he  had 
found  none  with  figures  of  men  and  ani- 
mals cut  upon  them.  Four  different  scenes 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


89 


were  represented  upon  the  stones  first  dis- 
covered. One  was  a battle  scene,  with 
two  war  chariots,  carrying  each  three  men, 
in  the  act  of  discharging  arrows,  and  with 
the  prostrate  forms  of  the  dead  and 
wounded  scattered  around.  One  repre- 
sented the  siege  of  a walled  city.  The 
third  was  made  up  simply  of  men  of  war 
on  horseback.  The  fourth  was  a castle, 
with  several  turrets,  and  on  the  top  of  this 
castle  stood  a woman,  tearing  her  hair  in 
grief,  while  at  the  foot  of  it  sat  a fisherman, 
quietly  angling  for  fish.  This  was  the  first 
discovery  of  sculptured  stones,  and  was,  of 
course,  an  event  of  great  consequence. 

It  was  soon  evident,  however,  that  the 
fire  had  here  done  its  work  also,  as  these 
stones  could  not  be  moved.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  take  drawings  of  them,  and  then 
leave  them  to  be  crumbled  to  fragments. 

Almost  every  day  now  brought  out  new 
forms  and  varieties  of  these  sculptured 


90 


n i n e v e n ; OR, 


walls,  on  which  were  represented  battles, 
sieges,  figures  of  kings  and  warriors,  tri- 
umphal processions,  pictures  of  the  old 
Assyrian  life. 

Some  time  in  the  month  of  February 
Mr.  Layard  had  occasion  to  visit  the  en- 
campment of  an  Arab  tribe,  a little  dis- 
tance from  the  mound.  He  left  his  work- 
men at  their  labor.  When  he  was  returning, 
and  was  at  a considerable  distance  from 
the  mound,  he  saw  two  horsemen  coming 
toward  him,  with  all  possible  speed.  As 
they  drew  near,  they  cried  out,  at  the  top 
of  their  voice,  “ Hasten,  O Bey,  hasten  to 
the  diggers,  for  they  have  found  Nimrod 
himself!  Wallah,  it  is  wonderful,  but  it  is 
true!  We  have  seen  him  with  our  eyes! 
There  is  no  god  but  God ! ” And  it 
was  wonderful.  On  reaching  the  mound 
Layard  found  that  the  workmen  had  un- 
covered an  enormous  human  head,  cut  in 
solid  stone,  while  the  body  to  which  it  was 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


93 


attached  was  yet  entirely  concealed  by  the 
earth.  “I  was  not  surprised,”  says  Mr 
Layard,  44  that  the  Arabs  were  amazed  and 
terrified  at  this  apparition.  This  gigantic 
head,  blanched  with  age,  thus  rising  from 
the  bowels  of  the  earth,  might  well  have 
belonged  to  one  of  those  fearful  beings 
pictured  in  the  traditions  of  the  country, 
as  appearing  to  mortals,  slowly  ascending 
from  the  regions  below.  One  of  the  work- 
men, on  catching  the  first  glimpse  of  the 
monster,  had  thrown  down  his  basket,  and 
run  off  toward  Mosul  as  fast  as  his  legs 
cpuld  carry  him.” 

But  the  matter  was  not  to  end  here. 
This  fellow  who  hurried  off  at  such  a rate 
toward  Mosul  created  a great  sensation. 
He  told  every  one  he  met  on  the  way,  that 
Nimrod  himself  had  appeared  at  the 
mound.  Nimrod  was  the  44  mighty  hunter 
before  the  Lord,”  spoken  of  in  the  10th 
chapter  of  Genesis,  who  was  one  of  the 


92 


NINEVEn;  OR, 


first  founders  of  the  old  Assyrian  cities, 
and,  though  he  has  been  dead  more  than 
four  thousand  years,  his  name  still  lives  in 
tne  traditions  of  the  country.  The  news 
thus  set  in  motion  spread  rapidly,  and  the 
whole  region  around  was  in  commotion. 
People  came  rushing  to  the  mound  from 
every  direction. 

When  the  messenger  reached  Mosul,  the 
whole  town  was  thrown  into  a prodigious 
excitement.  Mosul  is  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Turkish  Empire.  Conse- 
quently all  the  men  of  office,  and  a large 
part  of  the  people,  are  followers  of  Ma- 
homet, the  false  prophet,  who  lived  some 
six  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Christ. 
We  call  to  mind  this  fact,  that  our  young 
readers  may  see  at  once  the  ridiculousness 
of  what  follows. 

Some  of  the  petty  officials  of  Mosul 
immediately  came  together  to  take  counsel 
about  a matter  so  awful  and  astounding 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


93 


They  evidently  regarded  Mr.  Layard  in  the 
light  of  a mighty  wizard  or  necromancer, 
and  felt  that  something  must  be  done,  and 
that  at  once.  _ The  Cadi,  as  he  is  called, 
did  not  very  clearly  understand  whether  the 
skeleton  of  Nimrod  had  been  brought  to 
light  or  only  his  image.  His  mind  was 
dark  and  confused  on  this  point.  Anothei 
of  these  official  characters,  Ismael  Pasha 
by  name,  found  it  hard  to  remember 
whether  Nimrod  was  a true-believing  proph- 
et, and  follower  of  Mahomet,  or  whether 
he  was  an  Infidel.  His  inquiries  were 
directed  to  ascertain  this.  But,  at  any 
rate,  something  must  be  done  to  put  a stop 
to  this  strange  business,  or  the  whole 
country  would  be  ruined. 

These  petty  officers  at  length  decided 

that  it  was  best  to  call  together  the  great 

mass  of  the  Mahometan  population . of 

• 

Mosul,  and  go  before  the  governor  of  the 
city,  and  enter  a sole  mi  protest  against 


94 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


this  nefarious  business  and  ask  that  it 
might  be  stopped  at  once.  The  governor 
felt  himself  obliged  to  yield  to  their  request, 
and  accordingly  a message  came  down  to 
Mr.  Layard,  from  the  governor,  ordering 
that  the  remains  which  had  been  found 
should  be  treated  with  great  respect,  and 
should  be  no  further  disturbed ; and  that 
all  digging  at  the  mound  should  at  once 
come  to  an  end.  The  message  ended 
with  the  request  that  Mr.  Layard  would 
also  come  up  to  Mosul,  and  present  him- 
self before  the  governor  for  a conference. 

Though  Layard  had  power  granted  him 
from  head-quarters,  at  Constantinople,  to 
carry  on  his  work,  yet,  being  almost  alone, 
in  the  midst  of  a half  wild  and  supersti- 
tious people,  he  could  do  nothing  when 
they  were  all  turned  against  him.  He  1 
went  up,  therefore,  to  Mosul,  and  had  his 
interview  with  the  governor,  and  explained 
to  him  the  nature  of  the  discoveries  which 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


95 


he  was  making.  Eat,  in  view  of  the  gen- 
eral excitement  among  the  people,  it  was 
decided  that  the  work  must  be  suspended 
until  the  great  sensation  should  in  a meas- 
ure die  out. 

Layard,  therefore,  went  back  to  the 
mound  and  dismissed  his  workmen,  all 
except  two,  whom  he  managed  to  retain 
under  some  plea,  and  with  them  he  slowly 
and  noiselessly  pursued  his  work. 

It  was  very  annoying  to  be  thus  inter- 
rupted just  as  he  was  coming  upon  great 
discoveries.  For  several  days  this  gigantic 
head  of  stone  stood  as  it  was  first  uncov 
ered,  and  no  one  could  tell  to  what  it  be- 
longed. It  was  afterwards  found  to  be 
connected  with  the  body  of  a huge  winged 
lion,  about  twelve  feet  long  and  twelve 
high,  and  a little  way  from  it  another  of 
the  same  shape  and  size  was  found.  These 
huge  monsters,  cut  in  stone,  as  afterwards 
appeared,  w^re  placed  to  guard  one  of  the 


96 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


grand  entrances  to  the  great  palace  which 
he  was  uncovering.  They  stood  on  each 
side  of  the  spacious  southern  portal  of  the 
palace.  A month  afterwards  he  discov- 
ered another  pair,  of  the  same  size,  but 
differing  somewhat  in  form,  set,  in  like 
manner,  at  the  opposite,  or  northern  portal 
of  the  palace.  The  distance  across  from 
the  southern  to  the  northern  portal  of  this 
building  was  about  360  feet,  showing  the 
gigantic  proportions  of  the  structure. 
Moreover,  this  was  only  one  of  four 
buildings,  of  the  same  general  proportions, 
standing  upon  this  mound  of  Nimroud, 
as  Layard  discovered  before  he  finished 
his  work  at  this  spot. 

These  winged  lions  were  in  a perfect 
state  of  preservation.  They  bore  no  marks 
of  injury  by  fire.  Still,  throughout  all  this 
building,  at  certain  places,  the  traces  of 
fire  were  very  evident.  Many  of  the  slabs 
crumbled  on  being  moved,  and  deposits  of 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


97 


charcoal  were  frequently  found.  Mr.  Layard 
says,  on  this  point,  “ These  experiments 
were  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  building  I 
was  exploring  had  not  been  entirely  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  but  had  been  partly  exposed 
to  a gradual  decay.”  It  has  occurred  to 
us  whether  there  may  not  be  another  and 
better  explanation  than  this.  In  the  burn- 
ing of  such  a great  structure  as  this,  it 
might  well  enough  happen  that  this  marble 
work,  which  formed  only  the  lower  portion, 
while  the  building  itself  is  supposed  to 
have  been  carried  up  to  an  immense  height 
above,  with  brick  and  wood-work,  would 
be,  in  certain  portions,  so  early  buried  up 
in  the  falling  rubbish,  as  not  to  become 
thoroughly  heated  in  the  process ; while, 
at  other  points,  they  would  be  so  encom- 
passed by  the  burning  wood-work,  that  the 
heat  around  them  must  have  been  intense. 
This  will  appear  more  probable,  if  we  re- 
member that  in  such  a great  building  there 


7 


98 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


were  not  only  outside  walls,  of  these  soft 
and  perishable  brick,  but  also  many  inside 
walls,  to  support  the  timbers  and  make  the 
partitions  between  the  numerous  apart- 
ments. There  is  no  reason  to  doubt,  that 
all  the  inside  walls,  upon  which  these  slabs 
were  found,  were  carried  up  some  distance 
above,  and  when  the  burning  began  these 
would  be  pressed  this  way  and  that  by  the 
confined  heat,  or  pulled  down  by  the  fall- 
ing timbers,  and  in  their  fall  it  would  hap- 
pen that  these  marbles  beneath,  in  many 
places,  would  be  utterly  buried  up  by  these 
brick  partitions.  These  marbles  would 
not  become  thoroughly  heated  until  this 
falling  of  materials  from  above  should  be- 
gin, for  the  simple  reason,  that  in  the  lower 
parts  of  the  building,  where  they  were,  the 
finish  was  entirely  of  stone,  and  of  course 
not  combustible.  It  was  necessary  to  con- 
fine this  stone  finish  to  the  lower  story,  as 
the  enormous  weight  would  make  it  dan- 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


99 


gerous  and  impracticable  above.  Even 
the  few  stones,  comparatively,  sent  home 
to  England  by  Mr.  Layard,  now  deposited 
in  the  great  building  of  the  British  Muse- 
um in  London,  had  to  be  placed  in  the 
basement  of  the  building,  as  they  did  not 
dare,  from  their  weight,  to  trust  them  upon 
the  upper  floors. 

These  lower  rooms,  therefore,  would 
become  heated  only  by  the  burning  mate- 
rials from  above,  and  it  might  well  happen 
that  some,  and  even  large  portions  of  them, 
would  be  saved  from  destruction  by  being 
buried  under  these  huge  brick  walls,  in- 
stead of  burning  timbers. 

And  this  too,  we  think,  explains  the 
reason  why  these  collossal  figures  — the 
winged  lions  and  bulls,  of  such  immense 
proportions — were  not,  generally,  destroyed. 
In  the  first  place,  from  their  size,  it  would 
take  quite  a long  time  to  heat  them  thor- 
oughly enough  to  insure  their  destruction. 


100 


NINEVEn;  OR, 


Heat  will  pass  through  and  pervade  a 
small  stone,  of  course,  much  more  quickly 
than  a large  one.  The  heat  received  upon 
the  outside  passes  inward,  and  diffuses 
itself  through  the  whole  by  slow  degrees, 
and,  unless  the  heating  process  is  continued 
for  a long  time,  the  huge  mass  would  not 
become  hot  enough  throughout  to  crum- 
ble to  pieces. 

But  another,  and  more  important,  reason 
why  these  great  figures  were  generally 
found  in  a good  state  of  preservation 
is,  that  they  commonly  stood  outside 
>f  the  buildings,  as  if  to  guard  the  en- 
trances. They  would  not,  therefore,  be 
exposed  to  the  same  degree  of  heat  as  the 
inside  marbles.  The  huge  brick  walls  of 
the  lower  portions  of  the  structure,  to 
which  these  inner  marbles  were  fastened, 
would  protect  these  outside  ornaments 
from  any  high  degree  of  heat.  This  seems 
to  us  a more  reasonable  conclusion,  than 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


101 


to  suppose  that  a part  of  such  a structure 
was  burned,  and  part  not.  Fire,  when  it 
sets  to  work  upon  a building,  is  not  likely 
to  stop,  unless  it  is  checked  by  some  agency 
from  without,  and  in  the  destruction  of 
Nineveh,  the  conquering  hosts  who  applied 
the  torch  were  not  disposed  to  stop  the 
burning,  or  to  allow  any  one  else  to  do  it; 
but,  rather,  if  it  should,  by  any  chance, 
cease  of  itself,  to  set  it  going  again. 

Moreover,  in  the  excavations  which  have 
been  made  at  the  great  mound  of  Kouy- 
unjik,  just  opposite  Mosul,  though  the  first 
discoveries  showed  that  the  buildings  had 
been  destroyed  by  fire,  yet,  in  subsequent 
researches,  portions  were  found  which  had 
not  been  injured.  And,  very  likely,  if 
Botta  had  continued  his  work  at  Khorsabad, 
he,  too,  would  at  length  have  come  upon 
marbles  which  were  sound  and  well  pre- 
served. It  is  true  that  some  of  the  build- 
ings which  Layard  uncovered  showed  no 


102 


NINEVEli;  OR, 


traces  whatever  of  fire,  and  that  for  a very 
particular  reason,  as  we  may  hereafter  see. 

The  earth  which  now  covers  these  ruins 
— often  to  the  depth  of  many  feet  — is,  in 
part  doubtless,  made  from  the  very  materi- 
als which  formed  the  upper  masses  of  these 
great  structures,  reduced  to  atoms  by  the 
slow  change  and  decay  of  ages,  though  in 
part,  also,  it  has  been  formed  by  the  growth 
and  decay  of  vegetation  from  generation 

9 

to  generation. 

We  have  once  or  twice  spoken  of  the 
“rainy  season  ” which  prevails  in  that  por- 
tion of  the  earth.  In  fact,  Layard  had 
commenced  his  work  at  Nimroud  about 
the  beginning  of  the  rainy  season,  and  he 
makes  frequent  mention  of  the  pouring 
Hoods.  Speaking  of  the  rude  huts  which 
had  been  constructed  at  the  mound,  for  the 
accommodation  of  himself  and  workmen, 
he  says : “ The  roofs  not  being  constructed 
to  exclude  the  winter  rains,  now  setting  in. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


103 


it  required  some  exercise  of  ingenuity  to 
escape  the  torrent  which  descended  into 
my  apartment.  I usually  passed  the  night, 
on  these  occasions,  crowded  up  in  a corner, 
or  under  a rude  table  which  I had  con- 
structed. The  latter  having  been  sur- 
rounded by  trenches,  to  carry  off  the 
accumulating  water,  generally  afforded  the 
best  shelter.”  For  many  days  together  the 
rain  came  down  pouringly  and  incessantly. 
This  rainy  season  lasts  for  three  or  four 
months,  though  it  is  at  its  height  during 
December  and  January.  As  we  have  al- 
ready intimated,  such  seasons  occurring 
every  year,  would  have  a mighty  effect,  in 
the  course  of  ages,  in  washing  down  the 
soft  walls  of  these  ancient  cities,  and 
laying  them,  at  last,  even  with  the  ground. 

In  the  summer  months  the  heat  is  exces- 
sive, and  Layard  was  always  obliged  to 
suspend  his  operations  during  this  hot  sea- 
son. Colonel  Campbell,  a traveller  from 


104 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


whom  we  have  already  quoted,  and  who 
was  at  Mosul  in  the  summer,  says  of  the 
climate,  “ The  heat  is  so  intense,  that  in 
the  middle  of  the  day  there  is  no  stirring 
out,  and  even  at  night,  the  walls  of  the 
houses  are  so  heated  by  the  day's  sun  as 
to  produce  a disagreeable  heat  to  the  body, 
at  a foot,  or  even  a yard  distance  from 
them.”  This  testimony  is  abundantly  con- 
firmed by  our  American  missionaries  who 
are  stationed  at  Mosul,  and  who,  during 
this  hot  season,  have  to  go  north,  into  the 
more  mountainous  regions,  until  the  great 
heat  is  overpast.  Such  heat  as  this  occur- 
ring every  summer,  would  help  the  rains  in 
carrying  on  their  work  of  destruction. 

But  to  return  from  this  digression  to 
Mr.  Layard,  and  the  monsters  which  he 
had  discovered.  He  says  of  them  : 

“ I used  to  contemplate,  for  hours,  these 
mysterious  emblems,  and  muse  over  their 
intent  and  history.  What  more  noble 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


105 


forms  could  have  ushered  the  people  into 
the  temples  of  their  gods  ? What  more 
sublime  images  could  have  been  borrowed 
from  nature,  by  men  who  sought,  unaided 
by  the  light  of  revealed  religion,  to  em- 
body their  conception  of  the  wisdom, 
power,  and  ubiquity  of  the  Supreme.  They 
could  find  no  better  type  of  intellect  and 
knowledge  than  the  head  of  the  man;  of 
strength,  than  the  body  of  the  lion;  of 
rapidity  of  motion,  than  the  wings  of  the 
bird . These  human-headed  lions  were  not 
idle  creatures,  the  offspring  of  mere  fancy ; 
their  meaning  was  written  upon  them. 
They  had  awed  and  instructed  races  that 
lived  three  thousand  years  ago.  Through 
the  portals  which  they  guarded,  kings, 
priests,  and  warriors  had  borne  sacrifices  to 
their  altars,  long  before  the  wisdom  of  the 

East  had  penetrated  to  Greece For 

twenty-five  centuries  they ‘had  been  hidden 
from  the  eye  of  man,  and  now  they  stood 


106 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


forth  once  more  in  their  ancient  majesty 
But  how  changed  was  the  scene  around 
them ! The  luxury  and  civilization  of  a 
mighty  nation  had  given  place  to  the 
wretchedness  and  ignorance  of  a few  half- 
barbarous  tribes.” 

By  the  end  of  March  he  had  exhausted, 
for  the  most  part,  the  means  which  Sir 
Stratford  Canning  had  placed  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  was  obliged  nearly  to  suspend 
operations.  Hoping,  however,  that  he  should 
be  able  to  resume  his  labors,  he  did  not 
return  home  to  England,  but,  leaving  two 
men  only  at  work  at  the  ruins,  occupied 
his  time  in  taking  a survey  of  the  various 
mounds  scattered  about  through  that  re- 
gion. During  the  hot  weather  of  summer 
he  went  into  the  country  at  the  north, 
where  the  air  was  cooler.  In  the  mean 
time  he  received  a letter  from  Sir  Stratford 
Canning,  authorizing  him  to  go  on  with 
the  work.  His  success  had,  hitherto,  been 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


107 


so  wonderful,  that  his  work  must  not  stop 
now. 

Before  commencing  operations,  in  the 
following  autumn,  he  received  another  let- 
ter from  Mr.  Canning,  saying  that  the 
directors  of  the  British  Museum  had  taken 
the  matter  in  hand,  and  had  appropriated 
money  to  carry  on  the  enterprise.  This 
was  good  news,  and  he  came  back  to  the 
mound  about  the  1st  of  November,  organ- 
ized an  efficient  band  of  laborers,  and  pre- 
pared to  commence  the  work  of  the  second 
winter,  in  good  earnest. 


108 


NINEVEH)  OR, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

8ECOND  WINTER’S  WORK  AT  NIMROUD. 

As  we  have  already  intimated,  the  ope- 
rations at  the  mound  had  not  entirely 
ceased  during  these  summer  months.  Two 
men  were  left  at  the  work  when  Mr.  Layard 
took  his  departure  in  the  spring.  After 
receiving  his  first  letter  from  Sir  Stratford 
Canning,  he  had  returned  to  the  mound 
for  a short  time  and  increased  his  working 
force,  giving  directions  what  should  be 
done.  These  natives  of  the  country,  ha- 
bituated to  the  heat,  could  remain  at  their 
labor  during  this  burning  season,  though 
it  would  have  been  utterly  unsafe  for 
Layard  himself  to  have  done  so. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


109 


But  when  he  came  back,  about  the  1st 
of  November,  in  the  year  1846,  he  at  once 
called  into  his  employ  between  one  and 
two  hundred  men,  and  set  about  the  work 
on  a far  grander  scale  than  before. 

He  now  prepared,  also,  to  send  home  to 
England  — to  the  British  Museum  — the 
best  specimens  of  the  stones  which  he  had 
taken  out.  This  was  a wrork  of  no  little 
difficulty.  In  a country  where  he  could 
not  avail  himself,  to  any  large  extent,  of 
machinery  embodying  the  great  mechanical 
forces,  now  in  use  in  all  civilized  lands,  it 
was  hard  to  devise  any  plans  for  conveying 
down  the  steep  side  of  the  mound  such  an 
enormous  weight  of  stone  as  was  contained 
in  one  of  these  human-headed  lions.  But, 
by  the  best  contrivances  he  could  make, 
and  with  the  aid  of  his  whole  force  of 
men,  and  of  others  called  in  for  this  special 
purpose,  he  did  it.  This  mound  was  not 
far  from  the  River  Tigris,  and  so  when  the 


110 


NINEVEH*,  OR, 


huge  stones  were  once  down  upon  the 
plain,  the  rest  of  the  work  was  compara- 
tively easy.  They  were  loaded  on  im- 
mense rafts,  and  floated  down  the  river,  a 
long  distance,  then  taken  on  board  ships 
and  carried  home. 

As  the  rooms  of  the  great  structures  he 
was  uncovering  were  cleared  of  their  rub- 
bish, and  opened  to  the  view,  they  were 
found  everywhere  finished  in  the  peculiar 
style  which  has  been  already  described. 
These  huge  marble  slabs  were  fastened  to 
the  brick  walls  behind,  and  firmly  bound  to 
each  other  with  iron  clamps.  On  the  face 
of  these  slabs  were  cut  these  endless  fig- 
ures and  representations,  accompanied,  al- 
ways, with  inscriptions,  in  a strange  lan- 
guage. Almost  every  imaginable  scene 
was  delineated  upon  this  solid  stone, 
wrought  out,  stroke  by  stroke,  by  the  slow 
toil  of  the  cutter.  These  figures  were  cut 
with  great  delicacy,  following  out  with 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


Ill 


faithful  accuracy  the  folds  of  a garment, 
or  the  borders  of  a fringe.  Usually,  the 
scenes  represented  could  not  be  put  upon 
a single  slab,  but  ran  on  from  one  to 
another,  often  occupying  a large  number. 
In  exhibiting,  for  example,  a triumphal 
procession,  where  the  king  would  be  repre- 
sented as  coming  back  with  his  army,  after 
some  successful  expedition,  bringing  spoils, 
and  leading  with  him  long  trains  of  cap- 
tives, it  would  require  a large  number  of 
figures  properly  to  represent  it.  There 
must  be  chariots  and  horses  and  many 
men ; and,  to  illustrate  such  an  event  with 
dignity  and  force,  much  space  must  be 
occupied  upon  the  wall.  And  so  it  was. 

It  was  evident  that  these  cuttings  in  the 
stone  did  not  take  place  until  they  were 
set  in  the  wall,  because  when  these  long- 
continued  representations  passed  on  and  ran 
over  from  stone  to  stone,  every  thing  was 
just  as  accurate  and  well  joined  at  the 


112 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


seams  of  the  stones  as  anywhere  else, 
which  would  not  have  been  had  these  cut- 
tings taken  place  while  the  stones  were 
lying  apart.  It  was  clear  that  they  had 
first  been  smoothed  and  set  in  the  w alls, 
and  then  the  graver  wrought  upon  them 
precisely  as  though  he  were  at  work  upon 
one  long-continued  stone.  He  paid  no  re- 
gard, whatever,  to  the  seams,  and  they 
were,  in  fact,  so  closely  and  nicely  joined, 
as  to  occasion  him  no  trouble. 

When  it  is  remembered  how  long  a time 
it  takes  one  to  cut  upon  a solid  stone  even 
a single  figure  of  a man  or  animal,  what  a 
slow  and  tedious  process  it  is  to  form  in 
this  way  a tassel,  or  leaf,  or  flower,  or  even 
a single  letter,  and  then,  w7hen  w^e  bear  in 
mind  that  this  kind  of  work  covers  all 
these  huge  slabs  of  marble,  room  after 
room,  and  through  all  the  passage-ways  of 
the  lower  stories  of  these  immense  Nine- 
veh palaces,  the  mind  is  lost  in  the  magni- 


113 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 

tude  of  the  work.  How  many  hands  mast 
have  been  kept  busy,  year  after  year,  to 
chisel  out,  so  skilfully  and  accurately,  these 
endless  scenes  and  representations  ! 

To  give  our  readers  some  faint  idea  of 
the  immense  extent  of  this  work,  we  will 
take  a single  section  of  wall,  in  one  of  the 
large  rooms  of  what  Mr.  Layard  calls  the 
northwest  palace,  at  the  mound  Nimroud. 
It  is,  in  fact,  the  largest  room  in  the  palace, 
being  more  than  160  feet  long,  and  thirty 
feet  wide.  We  take,  for  our  illustration, 
a part  of  one  side  of  this  room.  The  slabs 
here,  if  we  rightly  understand  the  measure- 
ment, are  not  far  from  eleven  feet  high. 
In  width  they  are  unequal.  Some  of  them 
are  not  more  than  five  or  six  feet,  while 
others  are  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  wide. 
Thirteen  slabs  fill  a space  about  120  feet 
long,  and  consequently  they  have  an  aver- 
age width  of  between  eight  and  nine  feet. 

It  was  a matter  of  no  consequence  that  the 
8 


114 


nineyeh; or, 


slabs  should  be  of  the  same  width,  because, 
as  we  have  already  said,  they  were  nicely 
joined  together,  and  the  scenes  represented 
passed  directly  over  these  joinings,  as  if 
the  whole  had  been  one  stone.  To  pro- 
duce a sense  of  harmony  and  order,  how- 
ever, it  was  necessary  that  all  the  slabs  in 
any  one  room  should  be  of  the  same 
height ; but  the  width  might  vary  accord- 
ing to  convenience. 

We  have  these  thirteen  slabs,  eleven  feet 
high,  and  reaching  on  for  a distance  of 
120  feet,  firmly  bound  to  the  massive  brick 
wall  behind,  and  clamped  snugly  together, 
with  iron  or  copper  fastenings,  presenting 
a smooth  surface  for  the  work  of  the  graver 
His  work  consisted  in  cutting  away  the 
general  surface  of  this  stone,  leaving  all 
the  objects  and  figures  which  he  wished  to 
represent  standing  out  about  half  an  inch 
from  the  mass  of  rock.  Having  thus  a 
clear  view  of  the  nature  of  this  business, 


THE  BUKIED  CITY. 


115 


we  may  have  some  conception  of  the  im- 
mense work  to  be  done,  to  finish  off,  accu- 
rately and  completely,  this  one  section  now 
standing  before  us,  ready  for  the  workman. 

Let  us  now  give,  as  clearly  as  we  can, 
a description  of  the  scenes  which  Mr. 
Layard  found  cut,  and  most  perfectly 
preserved,  upon  that  one  section  of  wall. 

In  the  first  place,  the  whole  reach  of 
this  surface  was  divided  into  two  sections, 
the  upper  and  lower,  by  inscriptions  in  the 
strange  language  before  spoken  of  (the 
arrow-headed  language,  as  it  is  called, 
from  the  resemblance  of  the  characters,  or 
letters,  to  the  heads  of  arrows),  running 
across  the  slabs,  about  midway  from  the 
top  and  bottom.  This  would  give  about 
five  feet  above,  and  five  below,  for  the  illus- 
tration of  battles,  sieges,  or  whatever  else 
was  to  be  represented. 

We  will  give  some  idea  of  what  was 
thus  actually  represented,  sometimes  using 


116 


NINE  veii;  OR, 


the  language  of  Mr.  Layard,  and  sometimes 
our  own,  when  we  have  not  space  to  give 
his  in  full. 

“ The  two  upper  (above  the  line  of  in- 
scription) bas-reliefs  on  slabs  Nos.  3 and 
4,  formed  one  subject — the  king  followed 
by  warriors,  in  battle  with  his  enemies, 
under  the  walls  of  a hostile  castle.  He 
stands,  gorgeously  attired,  in  a chariot, 
drawn,  as  usual,  by  three  horses,  richly 
caparisoned.  He  is  discharging  an  arrow, 
either  against  the  besieged,  who  are  de- 
fending the  towers  and  walls,  or  against  a 
warrior,  who,  already  wounded,  is  tumbling 
from  his  chariot,  one  of  his  horses  having 
fallen  to  the  ground.  An  attendant  pro- 
tects the  person  of  the  king  with  a shield, 
whilst  the  second  is  holding  the  reins  and 
urging  on  the  horses.  A warrior,  fallen 
from  the  chariot,  is  almost  under  the  horses’ 
feet.” 

****** 


' 


- 


4 ■'  ■ 

' 

* - . 


Nineveh.  **n«o  117. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


117 


u Behind  the  king  are  three  chariots,  the 
first,  drawn  by  three  horses,  one  of  which 
is  rearing  and  another  falling,  is  occupied 
by  a warrior  already  pierced  by  an  arrow, 
and  apparently  demanding  quarter  of  the 
pursuers.  In  the  two  other  chariots  are 
two  warriors,  one  discharging  an  arrow, 
the  other  guiding  the  horses,  which  are  at 
full  speed.  In  each  chariot  is  a standard. 
* * * * * * =* 

“ At  the  bottom  of  the  first  bas-relief 
are  wavy  lines,  which  indicate  water,  or  a 
river,  and  trees  are  scattered  over  both. 
Groups  of  men,  fighting  or  slaying  the 
enemy,  are  introduced  in  several  places, 
and  three  headless  bodies  above  the  princi- 
cipal  figures  in  the  second  bas-relief,  repre- 
sent the  dead  in  the  back  ground. 

“ On  the  next  two  slabs  was  the  return 
after  victory.  In  front  of  the  procession 
are  several  warriors  carrying  heads,  and 
throwing  them  at  the  feet  of  the  conquer- 


118 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


ors.  ....  They  are  followed  by  the  war- 
riors who  were  represented  in  battle  in  the 
previous  bas-relief,  now  unarmed,  and 
holding  their  standard  before  them  ; above 
them  flies  an  eagle,  with  a human  head  in 
his  talons.  Behind  them  is  the  king,  car- 
rying in  one  hand  his  bow  and  in  the  other 
two  arrows probably  denoting  tri- 

umph over  his  enemies.” 

Several  other  figures  are  also  described, 
but  we  have  given  enough  to  indicate  the 
general  character  of  this  particular  piece. 

Next  after  this  triumphal  procession  we 
have  a representation  of  the  “ castle  and 
pavilion  ” of  the  conquering  king,  nowin 
a state  of  rest  and  enjoyment  after  the  con- 
quest of  his  enemies.  The  castle  is  “ di- 
vided into  four  compartments,  and  sur- 
rounded by  towers  and  battlements.  In 
each  compartment  there  are  figures,  ap- 
parently engaged  in  various  culinary  occu-  . 
pations,  and  preparing  a feast ; one  is 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


119 


holding  a sheep,  which  the  other  is  cutting 
up.  Another  is  baking  bread.  Various 
bowls  and  utensils  are  placed  on  stools,  all 
remarkable  for  the  elegance  of  their  forms.” 
And  then  follows  a long  description  of 
other  things  in  this  representation,  such  as 
grooms  cleaning  and  rubbing  down  the 
horses,  horses  feeding  at  their  troughs,  the 
canopies  and  awnings  under  which  the 
monarch  reposed,  mythological  figures  and 
the  like,  which  we  will  omit. 

“ The  four  following  bas-reliefs  represent 
a battle,  in  which  the  king  and  the  war- 
riors, with  their  standards,  ....  are  rep- 
resented in  chariots ; and  four  warriors 
. ...  on  horses.  The  enemy  are  on  foot, 
some  wounded  and  some  dead,  others  dis- 
charging their  arrows  against  the  pursuers. 
Eagles  fly  above  the  victors,  and  one  is 

already  feeding  on  a dead  body 

These  bas-reliefs  are  executed  with  great 
spirit,  particularly  that  containing  the 
horsemen.” 


120 


NINEVEH; OR, 


These  constitute  the  upper  series  of  rep- 
resentations, filling  that  portion  of  the 
stones  which  is  above  the  inscriptions. 

“ On  the  lower  series  of  bas-reliefs  are 
represented  three  subjects;  the  siege  of  a 
castle,  the  king  receiving  his  prisoners,  and 
the  king  with  his  army  crossing  a river.” 

“ The  first  occupies  the  under  compart- 
ments of  three  slabs.  The  greater  part  of 
the  castle  is  in  the  centre  bas-relief.  It  has 
three  towers,  apparently  several  walls,  one 
behind  the  other.  They  are  all  surmounted 
by  angular  battlements.  The  besiegers 
have  brought  a battering  ram  ....  up  to 
the  wall,  from  which  many  stones  have 
already  been  dislodged  and  are  falling. 
One  of  the  besieged  has  succeeded  in 
catching  the  ram  by  a chain,  and  is  endeav- 
oring to  raise  or  move  it  from  its  place, 
whilst  two  warriors  of  the  assailing  party 
are  holding  it  down  by  hooks,  to  which 
they  are  hanging.  Another  is  throwing 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


121 


fire,  from  above,  upon  the  engine 

Three  of  the  besieged  are  falling  from  the 
walls,  and  upon  one  of  the  towers  are  two 
women,  tearing  their  hair,  and  extending 
their  hands  as  if  in  the  act  of  asking  for 
mercy.  The  enemy  are  already  mounting 
to  the  assault,  and  scaling  ladders  have 
been  placed  against  the  walls.” 

The  description  goes  on  still,  at  consid- 
erable length. 

“ Upon  the  lower  part  of  the  three  next 
slabs  is  the  king  receiving  captives.” 

“ The  three  remaining  bas-reliefs  are 
highly  interesting  and  curious.  The  first 
represents  a boat  containing  a chariot  in 
which  is  the  king.”  The  whole  is  too  long 
for  quotation,  but  is  designed  to  represent 
the  manner  of  crossing  rivers  by  armies, 
when  they  are  making  their  expeditions. 

Now  these  representations,  containing, 
as  will  be  seen,  a very  great  number  of 
human  figures,  in  their  various  costumes, 


122 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


horses  and  chariots  with  their  rich  and 
costly  equipage,  natural  objects  in  great 
abundance  and  variety,  were  all  cut  upon 
this  one  section  of  wall  which  we  are 
attempting  to  describe.  And  there  is  more 
even  on  this  section  than  we  have  given, 
for  at  one  spot  the  slabs  had  fallen  down 
and  had  been  so  broken  by  the  fall  that  the 
representations  could  not  be  traced. 

It  is  evident,  also,  from  the  discoveries 
made,  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the  As- 
syrians, after  the  cuttings  were  completed,  • 
to  cover  the  figures  with  bright  red  paint, 
which  would  make  a very  strong  contrast 
to  the  dull  brownish  stone  upon  which 
they  stand  represented.  Traces  of  this 
paint  were  found  in  many  places,  though, 
as  a matter  of  course,  it  had  mostly  per- 
ished. When  colored  in  this  way,  the  fig- 
ures would  stand  out  with  great  distinctness, 
and  the  effect,  on  entering  these  halls,  must 
have  been  brilliant  in  the  extreme.  And 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


123 


this  explains  and  illustrates  a passage  in 
the  book  of  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  in  the  23d 
chapter.  “ She  saw  men  portrayed  upon 
the  walls,  the  images  of  the  Chaldeans 
portrayed  with  vermilion  ; girded  with 
girdles  upon  their  loins,  exceeding  in  dyed 
attire  upon  their  heads,  all  of  them  princes 
to  look  to  after  the  manner  of  the  Baby- 
lonians of  Chaldea,  the  land  of  their 
nativity.”  The  customs  of  Babylon  and 
Nineveh  were  doubtless  the  same  in  this 
respect,  and  this  passage  is  not  only  most 
impressive  in  this  connection,  but  shows  us 
the  wonderful  truth  and  accuracy  of  the 
Scriptures.  Had  these  discoveries  never 
been  made,  we  might  never  have  known 
exactly  what  this  passage  meant,  but  now 
its  meaning  comes  out  in  all  its  fulness 
and  beauty.  Those  who  have  seen  these 
marble  slabs  (for  there  are  many  of  them 
now  in  this  country)  have  felt  that  it  was 
hard  to  see  the  figures  clearly,  except 


124 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


in  a good  light.  But  when  covered  with 
this  vermilion,  as  they,  probably,  all  were, 
they  would  stand  out  in  great  splendor. 

Now  when  it  is  remembered  that  this 
section  of  120  feet  which  we  have  described, 
is  only  the  merest  item  of  this  one  build- 
ing, that  is,  in  fact  only  a part  of  one  room, 
which  was  160  feet  in  length,  thirty  in 
breadth,  and  had  these  sculptured  slabs  all 
around  it,  while  the  whole  palace  contained 
thirty  or  forty  apartments,  not,  generally, 
so  large,  it  is  true,  but  still  large,  which 
were  finished  off  in  the  same  manner, 
besides  a great  central  hall  160  by  ninety 
feet,  — when  these  things  are  borne  in  mind, 
our  readers  may  have  some  conception  of 
the  amazing  work  of  constructing  even  one 

of  these  vast  buildings.  If  all  the  sculptured 
* 

walls  in  this  one  palace  were  stretched  out 
in  a straight  line,  it  would  reach,  probably, 
not  much  less  than  a mile  in  length,  and 
might  even  exceed  a mile. 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


125 


The  impression  which  such  a scene  as 
this  was  fitted  to  make  upon  the  mind,  is 
very  finely  expressed  in  a letter  by  a Mr. 
Longworth,  an  English  gentleman,  who 
visited  Mr.  Layard  while  he  was  at  work 
at  Nimroud.  He  says : 

“ I took  the  opportunity,  whilst  at  Mosul, 
of  visiting  the  excavations  of  Nimroud. 
But  before  I attempt  to  give  a short  ac- 
count of  them,  I may  as  well  say  a few 
words  as  to  the  general  impression  wThich 
these  wonderful  remains  made  upon  me,  on 
my  first  visit  to  them.  I should  begin  by 
stating  that  they  are  all  under  ground. 
To  get  at  them,  Mr.  Layard  has  excavated 
the  earth  to  the  depth  of  twelve  to  fifteen 
feet,  where  he  has  come  to  a building  com- 
posed of  slabs  of  marble.  In  this  place, 
which  forms  the  northwestern  angle  of  the 
mound,  he  has  fallen  upon  the  interior  of 
a large  palace,  consisting  of  a labyrinth  of 
halls,  chambers,  and  galleries,  the  walls  of 


12(5 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


which  are  covered  with  bas-reliefs,  and 
inscriptions  in  the  cuneiform  (wedge- 
shaped)  character,  all  ill  excellent  preser- 
vation  The  time  of  day  when  I 

lirst  descended  into  these  chambers  hap- 
pened to  be  toward  evening,  the  shades 
of  which,  no  doubt,  added  to  the  awe  and 
mystery  of  (lie  surrounding  objects.  It 
was,  of  course,  with  no  little  excitement 
that  I suddenly  found  myself  in  the  mag- 
nificent abode  of  the  old  Assyrian  kings, 
where,  moreover,  it  needed  not  the  slightest 
effort  of  imagination  to  conjure  up  visions 
of  their  long-departed  power  and  greatness. 
The  walls  themselves  were  crowded  with 
phantoms  of  the  past.  In  the  words  of 
Byron,  i Three  thousand  years  their  cloudy 
wings  expand,’  unfolding  to  view  a vivid 
representation  of  those  who  conquered  and 
possessed  so  large  a portion  of  the  earth 

which  we  now  inhabit My  mind 

was  overpowered  by  the  contemplation  of 


THE  BURIED  CITY 


127 


so  many  strange  objects,  and  some  of  them, 
the  portly  forms  of  kings  and  viziers,  were 
so  life-like,  and  carved  in  such  fine  relief, 
that  they  might  almost  be  imagined  to  be 
stepping  from  the  walls,  to  question  the 
rash  intruder  upon  their  privacy.  Then, 
mingled  with  them  were  other  monstrous 
shapes,  the  old  Assyrian  deities,  with  hu- 
man bodies,  long  drooping  wings,  and  the 
heads  and  beaks  of  eagles : or,  still  faith- 
fully guarding  the  portals  of  the  deserted 
halls,  the  colossal  forms  of  winged  lions 
and  bulls,  with  gigantic  human  faces.  All 
these  figures,  the  idols  of  a religion  long 
since  dead  and  buried  like  themselves, 
seemed  actually,  in  the  twilight,  to  be 
raising  their  desecrated  heads  from  the 
sleep  of  centuries ; certainly,  the  feeling 
of  awe  which  they  inspired  me  with  must 
have  been  something  akin  to  that  experi- 
enced by  their  heathen  votaries  of  old.” 
Soon  after  the  return  of  Mr.  Layard  to 


128 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


Nimroud,  in  the  fall  of  1846,  he  despatched 
his  first  cargo  of  Nineveh  marbles  to  Eng- 
land. Before  the  end  of  December  he  had 
fitted  out  and  started  off  another  cargo. 
He  says,  “ On  Christmas  day  I had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  a raft,  bearing  twenty- 
three  cases,  floating  down  the  river.  I 
watched  them  till  they  were  out  of  sight, 
and  then  galloped  in  to  Mosul  to  celebrate 
the  festivities  of  the  season.”  There  is  a 
Christian  population  at  Mosul,  as  well  as 
Mahometan,  and  this  portion  of  the  people 
would  keep  Christmas,  and  Mr.  Layard,  as 
a good  Englishman,  kept  the  day  with  them, 
having  a lively  remembrance,  no  doubt,  of 
England  and  old  times. 

The  superstitious  people  round  about 
had,  by  this  time,  got  over,  in  a measure, 
their  foolish  fears,  and  they  used  to  come 
to  the  mound  and  look  on,  with  a strange 
and  solemn  wonder,  at  what  was  going 
forward.  The  followers  of  Mahomet,  in 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


129 


spite  of  their  ignorance  and  stupidity,  are 
as  proud  and  bigoted  as  any  people  upon 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  it  is  hard  for 
them,  under  any  circumstances,  to  confess 
that  the  men  of  another  faith  can,  by  any 
possibility,  be  wiser  than  they  are.  In  their 
visits  to  the  mound,  they  offered  their  pro- 
found and  sagacious  remarks,  to  the  great 
amusement  of  Mr.  Layard. 

An  Arab  sheikh,  the  chief  of  one  of  the 
wandering  tribes  of  the  country,  happening 
to  be  present,  and  to  be  a witness  of  the 
process  of  taking  one  of  these  huge  winged 
lions,  already  spoken  of,  down  from  the 
mound  to  the  Tigris,  to  be  sent  home,  was 
evidently  a good  deal  struck  with  the 
power,  wisdom,  and  skill  of  Mr.  Layard, 
and,  after  the  operation  was  over,  he  came 
up  and  addressed  him  as  follows : 

“ Wonderful  ! wonderful ! There  is 
surely  no  god  but  God,  and  Mahomet  is 
his  prophet.  In  the  name  of  the  Most 

9 


130 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


High,  tell  me,  O Bey,  what  are  you  going 
to  do  with  those  stones  ? So  many  thou- 
sands of  purses  spent  upon  such  things ! 
Can  it  be,  as  you  say,  that  your  people 
learn  wisdom  from  them ; or  is  it  as  his 
reverence  the  Cadi  declares,  that  they  are 
to  go  to  the  palace  of  your  queen,  who, 
with  the  rest  of  the  unbelievers,  worships 
these  idols?  As  for  wisdom,  these  figures 
will  not  teach  you  to  make  any  better 
knives  or  scissors  or  chintzes,  and  it  is  in 
the  making  of  these  things  that  the  Eng- 
lish show  their  wisdom.  But  God  is  great ! 
God  is  great!  Here  are  stones  which  have 
been  buried  ever  since  the  time  of  holy 
Noah  — peace  be  with  him ! Perhaps  they 
were  under  the  ground  before  the  deluge. 
T have  lived  on  these  lands  for  years.  My 
father,  and  the  father  of  my  father  pitched 
their  tents  here  before  me,  but  they  never 
heard  of  these  figures.  For  twelve  hundred 
years  have  the  true  believers  (and  praise  be 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


131 


to  God!  all  true  wisdom  is  with  them 
alone)  been  settled  in  this  country,  and 
none  of  them  ever  heard  of  a palace  under 
ground.  Neither  did  they  that  went  before 
them.  But  lo  ! here  comes  a Frank  (mean- 
ing a man  from  Europe),  from  many  days’ 
journey  off,  and  he  walks  up  to  the  very 
place,  and  he  takes  a stick  (illustrating  the 
description  at  the  same  time  with  the  point 
of  his  spear),  and  makes  a line  here,  and 
makes  a line  there.  Here,  says  he,  is  the 
palace,  there,  says  he,  is  the  gate  ; and  he 
shows  us  what  has  been  all  our  lives  be- 
neath our  feet  without  our  having  known 
anything  about  it.  Wonderful!  wonder 
ful ! Is  it  by  books,  is  it  by  magic,  or  is  v. 
by  your  prophets,  that  you  have  learnec 
these  things  ? Speak,  O Bey ! tell  me  the 
secret  of  wisdom.” 

It  was  new  business  to  these  wild  Arabs 
of  the  desert,  who  live  mainly  by  hunting 
and  plunder,  to  be  employed,  as  many  of 


132 


NINEVEIi;  OR, 


them  now  were,  in  digging  at  the  mound. 
One  night,  when  Mr.  Layard  was  returning 
to  Nimroud  from  a little  distance,  he  came 
upon  a lot  of  his  Arab  laborers,  in  full 
chase  after  a flock  of  sheep,  belonging  to 
some  one  in  a neighboring  village.  They 
were  pursuing  them  with  their  wild  war- 
cry,  endeavoring,  doubtless,  to  capture  them 
as  prey,  and  bear  them  off  to  the  mound 
for  cooking.  They  were  somewhat  abashed 
by  meeting  Mr.  Layard,  but  apologized 
after  this  fashion.  “ O Bey ! God  be 
praised,  we  have  eaten  butter  and  wheaten 
bread  under  your  shadow,  and  are  content ; 
but  an  Arab  is  an  Arab.  It  is  not  for  a 
man  to  carry  about  dirt  in  baskets,  and  use 
a spade  all  his  life,  he  should  be  with  his 
sword  and  his  mare  in  the  desert.  We 
are  sad  as  we  think  of  the  days  when  we 
plundered  the  Anayza,  and  we  must  have 
excitement,  or  our  hearts  would  break. 
Let  us,  then,  believe  that  these  are  the 


THE  BUKIED  CITY. 


133 


sheep  we  have  taken  from  the  enemy,  and 
that  we  are  driving  them  to  onr  tents  ? ” 
The  results  of  this  winter’s  work  were 
great  and  important.  The  whole  of  this 
mound  Nimroud  was  so  far  explored  that 
Layard  felt  himself  in  possession  of  all 
the  substantial  secrets  which  it  contained. 
He  found  here  four  great  and  distinct 
structures,  which  he  named  the  “ north- 
west palace,”  the  u southwest  palace,”  the 
“ central  palace,”  and  the  “ southeast  edi- 
fice,” Though  this  mound  Nimroud  is 
not  so  large  as  some  others  in  that  region, 
yet  the  distance  across  the  top  of  it,  in  one 
direction  is  fully  a quarter  of  a mile,  and 
in  the  other  direction  more  than  an  eighth 
of  a mile,  so  that  there  was  abundant 
room  upon  it  for  these  four  great  structures, 
with  an  immense  space  still  unoccupied. 
There  was  also,  near  the  “ northwest  pal- 
ace,” a high  pyramidal  heap,  rising  much 
above  the  general  surface  of  the  mound3 


134 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


which  was  examined,  to  some  extent,  with- 
out any  great  results.  This  may  be  the 
ruinous  pile  of  some  lofty  tower  of  brick, 
to  which  the  possessors  of  the  palaces 
might  resort  when  they  wished  to  take 
a look  far  abroad  over  the  surrounding 
plain. 

» 

Layard  also,  during  this  winter,  made 
some  examinations  at  Kouyunjik,  and 
other  places.  The  results  obtained  were 
much  like  those  already  described,  but  we 
have  not  time  to  mention  them  in  detail. 

In  Mr.  Layard’s  second  visit  to  Nineveh, 
in  the  year  1848,  he  operated  especially 
upon  this  mound  Kouyunjik,  and  found 
there  the  great  palace  of  Sennacherib,  the 
largest  structure  which  has  yet  been  uncov- 
ered in  the  Assyrian  Empire.  “ It  con- 
tained at  least  three  spacious  halls,  one  of 
them  150  feet  by  125,  and  two  long  gal- 
leries (one  of  200  and  one  of  185  feet), 
besides  innumerable  chambers,  and  the 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


135 


excavated  portion  of  it  covers  an  area  of 
nearly  40,000  square  yards,  or  above  eight 
acres.” 

We  shall  not,  however,  attempt  to  fol- 
low Mr.  Layard  through  the  details  of  this 
second  expedition,  some  of  which  belong 
to  Nineveh  and  some  to  Babylon,  though, 
so  far  as  we  have  occasion,  we  shall  use 
the  results  of  these  researches  for  the  illus- 
tration of  our  subject. 

We  purpose,  in  the  next  chapter,  to 
make  some  general  observations,  touching 
these  mounds  and  the  great  structures  built 
upon  them. 


136 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS  UPON  TTIESE  ASSYRIAN 
MOUNDS  AND  BUILDINGS. 

We  have  already  gone  sufficiently  into 
the  details  of  what  was  discovered  at  Nin- 
eveh, to  prepare  the  mind  for  some  general 
inquiries  touching  the  meaning  of  these 
great  mounds  and  the  immense  structures 
built  upon  them.  Our  readers  have,  with- 
out doubt,  reached  the  main  conclusions 
to  be  drawn  from  the  facts  given,  but  it 
will  be  well  if  we  state  the  matter  in  full, 
that  we  may  have  a clear  view  of  this  old 
Assyrian  civilization. 

% These  mounds,  then,  are  vast  artificial 
hills,  built  up  by  the  slow  labor  of  man,  to 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


137 


serve  as  the  lofty  foundations  of  these 
great  structures.  As  we  have  already  said, 
this  country  about  the  Euphrates  and  Ti- 
gris rivers  is  a far-reaching  plain,  — the  old 
plain  of  Shinar,  — and  no  such  formations 
as  these  mounds  are  at  all  natural  to  it. 
Some  of  our  readers  may  have  thought 
that  these  mounds  were  nothing  more  than 
the  ruinous  heaps  of  the  old  structures 
themselves ; that  the  buildings,  as  they 
fell,  and  mouldered  back  to  dust,  left  these 
huge  piles  of  matter.  Large  as  these 
structures  were,  they  were  not  large  enough 
for  that.  We  shall  gain  a fuller  conception 
of  the  size  of  these  formations  as  we  go 
on.  But  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  the 
ruins  of  the  greatest  buildings  yet  discov- 
ered in  that  part  of  the  world  could  make 
no  approach,  in  size,  to  the  immensity  of 
these  mounds. 

But  we  need  not  argue  the  point  in  this 
way.  The  very  foundations  of  these 


138 


NINEVEH;  OR. 

buildings  are  on  the  top,  or  near  the  top, 
of  the  mounds.  Layard  was  at  work,  of 
course,  among  the  very  foundations.  All 
the  upper  portions  of  the  structures  had 
perished,  and  in  their  ruin  had  helped  to 
make  the  rubbish  which  covered  the  lower 
story.  When  this  rubbish  was  cleared 
away  to  the  depth  of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet, 
the  foundation  relics  of  the  buildings  ap- 
peared. The  mound  itself,  where  he  prin- 
cipally worked,  was  some  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
high.  So  that  the  very  lowest  stones  of 
these  palaces  must  have  been  some  forty 
or  fifty  feet  above  the  surrounding  plain. 

The  mound,  then,  was  first  built  up  to 
give  this  proud  and  stately  height  for  the 
building  to  stand  upon.  The  grandeur  of 
the  palace  or  temple,  or  whatever  great 
edifice  was  to  be  constructed,  would  shine 
out  far  more  clearly  from  such  an  elevated 
basis.  These  mounds  were  built  up  only 
for  the  great  and  costly  buildings, — the 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


139 


palaces  of  the  kings,  the  temples  of  the 
gods,  or  the  treasure-houses  of  the  empire. 
The  buildings  where  the  people  lived,  — 
the  swarming  multitudes  that  dwelt  within 
the  vast  enclosure  of  the  walls,  — were 
made,  doubtless,  of  the  sun-dried  brick  of 
the  country,  — quickly  built,  and  quick  to 
perish  and  disappear  when  left  to  them- 
selves. Layard  tells  us,  that  the  dwellings 
of  many  of  the  people  in  that  part  of  the 
world  are  still  built  in  the  same  way,  and 
that  when  deserted,  and  left  to  the  action 
of  the  elements,  they  are  soon  crumbled 
and  washed  down.  In  a few  years,  com- 
paratively, the  spot  where  they  stood  would 
hardly  be  known  from  any  otheY  place,  and 
this  is  the  reason  why  the  great  city  of 
Nineveh,  the  city  of  “ three  days’  journey,” 
the  city  in  which  u were  more  than  six- 
score  thousand  persons  that  could  not  dis- 
cern between  their  right  hand  and  their  left 
hand,”  — so  suddenly  disappeared  from  the 


140 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


face  of  the  earth,  and  men  could  not  tell 
where  it  had  stood.  The  walls  of  the  city 
and  the  innumerable  dwellings  of  the  com- 
mon people  had  all  been  washed  away,  and 
made  level  with  the  ground.  The  proud 
palaces  and  temples  on  these  artificial 
hills  had  been  burned  with  fire,  and  what 
remained  of  them,  and  was  to  remain  till 
our  day,  had  been  covered  with  the  mould- 
ering ruins,  so  that  the  grass  grew  over 
them,  and  the  sheep  and  goats  pastured 
upon  them. 

But  to  return  to  these  mounds.  Nothing 
can  give  us  a more  impressive  idea  of  the 
pride  of  these  Assyrian  monarchs,  of  the 
state  and  grandeur  in  which  they  aspired 
to  live,  using  the  toiling  millions  only  for 
their  own  pleasure  and  exaltation,  than  to 
think  of  the  work  of  building  one  of  these 
artificial  hills.  We  have  already  hinted  at 
the  immensity  of  these  heaps.  Those  at 
Nineveh,  even  the  largest  of  them,  are  not 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


141 


so  large  as  some  that  are  found  on  the  old 
site  of  the  city  of  Babylon,  for  Babylon 
was  later  in  history  than  Nineveh,  and  it 
would  be  the  natural  ambition  of  every 
one  of  these  proud  monarchs,  long  as  their 
dominion  lasted,  to  outdo  all  that  had  gone 
before  them.  We  will,  perhaps,  refer  to 
some  of  these  Babylonian  relics  by  and 
by.  But  let  us  now  confine  ourselves  to 
Nineveh.  We  will  take  the  largest  of  the 
four  great  mounds  that  stand  upon  the  old 
site  of  the  city,  the  mound  Kouyunjik, 
opposite  Mosul.  Khorsabad,  Karamles, 
and  Nimroud,  are  the  other  three,  and 
besides,  there  are  many  smaller  ones,  but 
Kouyunjik  exceeds  them  all. 

This  mound,  as  measured,  is  said  to  be 
forty-three  feet  in  perpendicular  height,  and 
7,691  feet,  or  as  near  as  may  be  one  mile 
and  a half, \ in  circumference.  Its  sides  are 
steep,  and  its  top  is  level  like  a plain.  We 
suppose  that  the  distance  about  Boston 


142 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


Common  may  be  three  fourths  of  a mile, 
or  it  may  be  a little  more.  Those  who  are 
familiar  with  the  Common  may  take  that 
as  a kind  of  guide  to  the  surface  covered 
by  this  one  mound,  and  those  who  are  not 
familiar  with  Boston,  may  mark  out  in 
their  own  minds  any  spot  which  shall  be 
a little  less  than  half  a mile  square.  Think 
of  the  work  of  covering  that  spot,  to  the 
height  of  forty-three  feet,  with  earth  brought 
from  a distance,  simply  to  serve  as  a grand 
foundation  for  one  of  these  lofty  structures. 
Many  people  have  watched,  with  no  little 
interest,  the  operation  of  filling  the  Back- 
bay  in  Boston,  which  has  been  going  on 
some  two  years,  or  more,  and  have  thought, 
considering  the  nature  of  the  work,  that  it 
progressed  very  rapidly.  A gang  of  men, 
with  huge  steam-shovels,  loading  a car  in 
half  a minute,  with  powerful  engines, 
which  drag  at  once  thirty  or  forty  loaded 
cars  swiftly  to  the  spot  where  they  are 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


143 


emptied,  with  relays  of  hands,  so  that  this 
process  may  be  kept  going  day  and  night, 
have  succeeded  in  building  up,  to  the  depth 
of  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty  feet,  quite  a little 
spot  of  ground.  But  they  have  not  yet 
covered  a greater  space  than  that  occu- 
pied by  this  mound  of  Kouyunjik,  and 
they  have  not  carried  their  work  to  more 
than  one  third  the  height  of  that.  Now 
these  Assyrians  had  no  steam-shovels,  or 
engines,  or  dirt-cars.  The  earth  that  made 
iiat  mound  was,  probably,  all  brought  in 
baskets  on  the  shoulders  of  men;  not,  per- 
haps, from  a very  great  distance,  but  not 
less  than  half  a mile.  Some  of  the  repre- 
sentations on  the  walls  of  Assyrian  and 
Egyptian  cities  (for  Egypt  and  Assyria 
belonged  to  the  same  period  of  the  world, 
and  their  methods  of  labor  and  general 
style  of  civilization  were  the  same)  show 
us  how  this  work  was  done.  Each  man 
that  wrought  in  this  labor  had  two.  small 


144 


NINEVEn;  OR, 


baskets  or  buckets,  suspended  from  the 
ends  of  a small  wooden  bar.  This  timber 
was  placed  on  his  shoulder,  and  one  of 
these  baskets  was  before  him  and  one  be- 
hind. After  depositing  his  load,  he  returned 
to  the  place  where  the  earth  was  dug. 
There  was,  probably,  a division  of  labor, 
to  this  extent;  that  some  men  filled  the 
baskets,  and  others  carried  them.  Each 
carrier,  as  he  returned,  would  leave  his 
empty  baskets  and  take  up  a pair  that  were 
full* 

This  was,  of  course,  a very  slow  opera- 
tion, if  only  a few  men  were  employed 
upon  it*  But  in  those  old  empires,  they 
made  up  by  numbers  what  was  wanting 
in  power.  Fifty  thousand  men,  working 
even  in  this  way,  would  pile  up  a great 
heap  of  earth  in  a few  days,  and  when 
their  labors  were  extended  through  years, 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  even  such  mounds  as 
this  could  be  built 


Assyrian  Figure. 

Nineveh.  Page  145. 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  145 

The  captives  taken  in  war,  of  which  the 
Assyrians,  in  the  days  of  their  pride  and 
glory,  had  an  uncounted  multitude,  were 
largely  employed  in  such  labors.  The  ten 
tribes  of  Israel,  which  Shalmaneser,  king 
of  Nineveh,  carried  captive,  of  whom  Tobit 
was  one,  may  have  helped  to  build  some 
of  the  very  mounds  which  are  now  found 
on  the  site  of  this  haughty  old  city. 

Under  that  old  empire  men  did  not  live 
as  we  do  now  in  this  free  land.  They 
were  not  left,  each  one  to  build  his  own 
house,  or  till  his  own  farm,  or  otherwise 
enjoy  the  fruit  of  his  labor  and  industry. 
They  were  at  the  call  of  the  monarch,  and 
must  do  his  pleasure.  If  even  half  of  the 
men  of  Massachusetts  could  be  summoned 
together  at  the  mere  will  of  one  man,  and 
set  upon  such  works  as  these,  what  enter- 
prise so  vast  that  it  could  not  be  soon  ac- 
complished. 

Though  Kouyunjik  is  the  largest  mound 
10 


146 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


among  the  ruins  of  Nineveh,  it  is  not  the 
largest,  as  has  been  already  suggested,  in 
the  region  covered  by  this  old  Assyrian 
civilization.  Some  thirty  or  forty  miles 
below,  on  the  Tigris,  is  a mound  almost 
three  miles  in  circuit,  which  has  not  been 
thoroughly  explored,  but  has  been  suffi- 
ciently examined  to  reveal  traces  of  old 
sculpture  and  bricks,  and  show  that  it  is 
an  artificial  mound,  constructed  for  the 
same  general  purpose  as  the  others.  It  is 
not  known  whether  it  marks  the  spot 
where  some  old  city  stood,  or  whether  it 
may  have  been  a foundation  for  a grand 
and  magnificent  palace,  built  by  one  of  the 
kings  of  Nineveh,  as  a place  to  which  he 
might  retire  from  the  noise  of  the  city,  or 
to  gratify  his  pride  and  pleasure. 

The  mound  called  Babil;  on  the  site  of 
ancient  Babylon,  is  not  larger  in  circuit 
than  the  mound  Nimroud,  where  Layard 
excavated,  but  is  remarkable  for  its  great 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


147 


height,  140  feet.  This  is  supposed  to  be 
the  foundation  of  the  famous  temple  of 
Belus,  or  Bel.  A mile  south  of  this  mound 
Babil,  begins  a succession  of  these  high 
mounds,  reaching  on,  almost  continuously, 
for  two  miles,  along  the  River  Euphrates. 
In  some  proud  palace,  built  on  these  lofty 
artificial  heights,  doubtless  Nebuchadnez- 
zar walked,  his  eye  ranging  far  abroad  over 
the  city,  and  the  surrounding  country, 
when  he  said,  in  the  swelling  pride  of  his 
heart,  “ Is  not  this  great  Babylon,  that  I 
have  built  for  the  house  of  the  kingdom, 
by  the  might  of  my  power,  and  for  the 
honor  of  my  majesty  ? ” 

At  different  places  throughout  the  lands 
occupied  by  the  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
empires,  these  mounds  remain,  to  show  us 
at  this  day  the  pomp  and  grandeur  of 
these  ancient  monarchs,  and  to  prove  true 
what  the  Bible  has  told  us  of  their  pride 
and  lust  of  dominion.  Vast  as  these 


148 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


mounds  are,  rising  as  they  do,  many  of 
them,  to  the  proportions  of  mountains,  no 
one  who  has  given  the  subject  any  exam- 
ination, now  doubts  that  they  were  actu- 
ally built  up  in  this  way  by  the  hand  of 
man,  in  slow  and  toilsome  labor.  At  some 
places,  not  far  off  from  them,  the  depres- 
sions in  the  plain  are  yet  distinctly  visible, 
showing  the  spots  whence  the  earth  was 
taken. 

We  come,  now,  to  the  great  structures 
erected  upon  these  mounds.  The  course 
of  our  narrative,  in  previous  chapters,  has 
led  us  to  say  much  more  of  these  than  of 
the  mounds  themselves ; but  the  subject  is 
fruitful,  and  much  more  remains  to  be 
said. 

It  seems  to  us,  that  some  of  the  conclu- 
sions drawn  by  Mr.  Layard  from  the  facts 
which  he  has  given,  fall  far  short  of  the 
truth.  He  has  not  exaggerated,  but,  from 
the  best  opinions  we  can  form  on  the  sub- 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


149 


ject,  he  does  not  come  nearly  up  to  the 
reality,  as  respects  the  probable  height  and 
splendor  of  these  great  structures.  He  has 
given  us  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  it  is 
allowable  for  us,  though  far  distant  from 
the  scenes  of  his  magnificent  discoveries, 
to  reason  upon  these  facts. 

He  seems  to  suppose  that  these  buildings 
which  he  uncovered  were  not,  probably, 
carried  up  very  far  above  these  sculptured 
stones  ; that  a roof  was  thrown  across,  and 
light  admitted  probably  through  the  roof ; 
that  he  found  no  traces  of  windows  in 
these  sculptured  walls,  the  only  breaks 
which  occurred  in  them  being  doors  and 
passage-ways. 

Now  we  cannot  for  one  moment  believe 
that  the  Assyrian  monarchs,  who  under- 
stood so  well  the  majesty  of  height  and 
grand  proportions,  would  first  build  up, 
with  such  immense  labor  and  expense,  a 
lofty  mound,  as  the  basis  of  the  palace,  — 


150 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


construct  the  foundations  on  such  a scale 
of  grandeur  and  extent,  and  then  end  the 
whole  affair,  and  bring  it  to  a summary 
conclusion,  just  above,  by  throwing  a flat 
roof  across,  thus  making  a building,  which 
had  first  been  lifted  up  so  high  in  the  air, 
and  occupying  a space  on  the  ground  of 
some  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  feet 
square,  not  more  than  fifteen  or  twenty  feet 
high. 

Our  idea  is,  that  these  palaces  rose 
proudly  into  the  air,  to  the  height  of  a 
hundred  feet  or  more.  This  heavy  stone 
work,  the  only  part  preserved,  is  on  the 
ground  floor,  where  it  would  naturally  be. 
But  what  should  hinder  a people  who 
built  the  walls  of  their  cities  hundreds  of 
feet  high,  from  carrying  up  this  structure, 
with  brick  and  timber,  so  as  to  give  it  a 
proud  and  lofty  proportion.  Mr.  Layard 
found  no  windows  in  the  stonewalls,  and 
we  should  expect  none.  This  lower  story 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


151 


may  have  been  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet 
high,  and  there  was  space  enough  between 
the  upper  line  of  these  slabs  and  the  floor 
above  for  all  the  windows  they  might' 
choose  to  have.  Had  these  windows  been 
low  down,  among  the  slabs,  they  would 
have  been  out  of  place  to  the  eye,  they 
would  have  interfered  with  the  representa- 
tions upon  the  walls,  and,  what  is  more, 
the  light  would  not  have  come  in  properly 
to  reveal  the  figures. 

It  should  have  come  from  above.  Every 
thing  has  perished,  of  course,  down  to  the 
upper  line  of  these  heavy  slabs.  They 
make  the  first  point  of  effectual  resistance 
to  this  ruin  and  decay.  The  fact,  there- 
fore, that  he  found  no  windows,  is  of  no 
consequence  whatever.  It  was  not  to  be 
supposed  that  he  would  find  any. 

He  did,  however,  find  such  heaps  of 
matter  lying  above  these  slabs,  as  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  upper  portions  of 


152 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


these  structures  must  have  been  huge  and 
massive,  for  these  overlying  heaps  must,  as 
it  seems  to  us,  have  been  formed,  mainly, 
out  of  the  perished  materials  of  the  build- 
ings themselves.  The  silent  growth  and 
decay  of  vegetation  would  add  something 
to  the  pile  in  the  slow  course  of  ages.  But 
there  would  also  be  a loss  all  the  while. 
These  mounds,  rising  high  up  in  the  air, 
blown  upon  by  the  winds  of  heaven,  would 
continually  yield  some  portion  of  their 
loose  dust  to  the  plains  below.  The  pour- 
ing rains  would  also  wash  the  upper  sur- 
face, and  carry  more  or  less  matter  down 
the  sides.  From  the  very  circumstances 
of  the  case,  from  the  way  these  mounds 
would  be  acted  upon  continually  by  the 
winds  and  the  rains,  there  would,  on  the 
whole,  be  a loss,  rather  than  a gain,  in  this 
overlying  substance. 

Had  these  buildings  stood  upon  the  plain, 
like  the  old  mins  of  Thebes,  then  the 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


153 


tendency  would  have  been  exactly  the  other 
way.  The  wind,  thrown  into  eddies  as  it 
played  around  the  mins,  would  be  forever 
dropping  its  particles  of  dust,  until,  in  the 
course  of  ages,  the  ruins  themselves  would 
be  partly,  or  wholly  covered,  by  matter 
brought  from  a distance. 

But  the  heaps  lying  above  the  palaces 
of  Nineveh  would  seem  to  be  formed 
mainly  out  of  the  perished  materials  of 
the  buildings  themselves,  showing  that  they 
were  massive  and  lofty.  As  has  been 
already  stated,  Layard  had  to  excavate  to 
the  depth  of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  to  come 
at  these  ruins. 

We  judge  that  something  like  this  con- 
clusion must  have  impressed  itself  upon 
other  minds,  as  well  as  upon  our  own.  In 
an  article  ir  the  North  American  Review 
upon  the  Assyrian  Empire,  recently  pub- 
lished, the  writer,  speaking  upon  this  gen- 
eral subject,  refers  to  a work  which  we  have 


154 


NINEYEIi;  OR, 


not  seen,  and  uses  the  following  language 
respecting  it : 

“ Ferguson,  an  English  architect,  has 
paralleled,  in  his  department,  the  feats  of 
the  naturalist  who,  from  a bone  or  a scale, 
constructs  the  form  of  some  extinct  animal. 
From  the  ruins  of  the  great  palace  he  has 
reconstructed  their  former  dazzling  gran- 
deur. In  the  midst  of  the  level  landscape, 
rose,  in  the  first  place,  an  immense  artificial 
hill.  The  excavations  from  which  the  soil 
came  may  still  be  distinctly  traced  in  de- 
pressions and  vast  swamps.  On  all  sides 
this  elevation  was  faced  with  walls  of  solid 
masonry.  Upon  the  lofty  platform,  on  its 
summit,  was  built  the  palace.  Fortification- 
like  cliffs  rose  near  it,  a hundred  feet  high, 
and  wide  enough  at  the  top  for  three  char- 
iots abreast.  At  frequent  intervals  towers 
shot  up  to  a still  loftier  elevation.  The 
platform  was  ascended  by  a stately  flight 
of  steps.  The  foot  of  the  visitor  trod  upon 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


155 


slabs  covered  or  inlaid  with  handsome  de- 

* 

signs Upward,  tier  above  tier,  into 

the  blue  heavens,  ran  lines  of  colonnades, 
pillars  of  costly  cedar,  cornices  glittering 
with  gold,  capitals  blazing  with  vermilion, 
and  between  them  voluminous  silk  cur- 
tains, interwoven  with  threads  of  gold. 
The  wind  from  Media  came  breathing 
through  those  aerial  pavilions,  and,  far 
down  to  the  alabaster  lions  and  the  plumed 
divinities,  they  whispered  of  the  glory  of 
the  Great  King.” 

Now  this  conception  seems  to  us  far 
more  natural  and  probable  than  the  ideas 
of  Mr.  Layard.  We  cannot  think  that  the 
Assyrian  monarchs,  after  so  grand  a begin- 
ning, would  come  to  so  “ lame  and  impo- 
tent a conclusion.” 

The  picture  which  the  writer  from  whom 
we  have  just  quoted  draws  of  the  splen- 
dors of  the  finished  palace,  and  the  view 
opened  from  its  height  to  the  proud  and 


156 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


aspiring  monarch  who  takes  his  survey 
from  the  roof,  is  so  graphic  and  beautiful, 
and  at  the  same  time  so  true  to  the  spirit 
and  genius  of  the  Assyrian  royalty,  that  we 
cannot  forbear  quoting  it. 

“ Let  us  ascend  with  the  possessor  of  all 
this  pomp  to  the  roof  of  the  towering  pal- 
ace where  altars  stand  for  sacrifice.  Hun- 
dreds of  feet  below,  the  Tigris  washes  the 
foundations,  and  shoots  its  waters  into  the 
artificial  channels  winding  everywhere 
through  the  land.  From  an  unfinished 
temple  near  at  hand  comes  the  hum  of 
unwonted  captives.  In  the  distance,  along 
the  river,  in  gay  barges,  approaches  the 
train  of  some  subjugated  prince,  bearing 

offerings The  great  king  turns  his 

haughty,  branded  face  to  the  southward, 
where  the  messengers  of  Hezekiah  ap- 
proach, bringing  thrones  and  couches. 
These  are  the  camel-trains  of  Ezion-Geber, 
with  the  wealth  of  Ophir,  from  Southern 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


157 


Arabia,  with  spice,  frankincense,  and  myrrh, 
train  after  train,  until  all  the  robber  winds 
of  the  desert,  from  rifling  the  bales  fling 
perfumes  everywhere  through  the  wilder- 
ness. He  turns  his  face  to  the  east,  and  in 
his  dark  Assyrian  eye  there  is  a light,  as  he 
thinks  of  the  intractable  Mede  scourged 
into  servitude.  Northward  rise  peaks 
covered  with  snow He  looks  west- 

ward, long  and  thoughtfully.  His  breast 
heaves  under  its  covering  of  gems,  and 
new  pride  sits  in  his  haughty  face.  Was 
it  not  there,  with  the  dash  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean in  his  ear,  that  he  pressed  his  foot 
upon  the  necks  of  the  great  Phenician 
princes,  lords  of  the  continuous  city  stretch- 
ing northward  from  Acre  two  hundred 
miles  to  Aradus  ? . . . . By  the  side  of  the 
king,  on  the  altar,  burns  the  eternal  fire, 
— kindled  in  Chaldea  by  sages  who  had 
seen  Noah.  Well  may  he  bow  and  wor- 
ship Nineveh,  his  god,  who  had  set  bis 
favored  son  on  such  a pinnacle.” 


158 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


These  mounds  and  palaces,  found  so 
numerously  in  all  that  quarter  of  the  world, 
are  by  no  means  the  work  of  one  man  or 
one  age.  They  were  built  under  the  care 
and  direction  of  the  several  monarchs  who 
reigned  in  Assyria,  for  hundreds  of  years. 
Some  of  these  monarchs  would,  undoubt- 
edly, be  of  a more  quiet  and  contented  turn 
of  mind,  and  would  rest  satisfied  with  the 
splendid  edifices  which  they  found  already 
prepared  for  them,  without  troubling  them- 
selves to  add  to  the  stately  structures  of 
the  empire.  Others  would  be  full  of  am- 
bition, burning  to  set  their  glory  as  palace 
or  temple  builders,  above  all  that  had  gone 
before  them.  Esar-haddon,  the  son  of  that 
Sennacherib  who  came  back  defeated  from 
Judea,  and  whose  rage  and  madness  could 
not  long  be  endured,  seems  to  have  been 
one  of  the  prominent  builders.  An  in- 
scription, somewhere  found  on  these  old 
monuments,  says  of  him,  “ In  Assyria  and 


THE  BUB  I ED  CITY. 


159 


Mesopotamia  he  built  no  fewer  than  thirty 
temples,  shining  with  silver  and  gold,  and 
splendid  as  the  sun.” 

On  the  mound  Nimroud,  which  Layard 
uncovered,  he  found  clear  evidence  that  the 
process  of  rebuilding  was  actually  going 
on  in  one  of  those  structures  at  the  time 
the  city  was  destroyed.  He  found  a place 
where  a large  quantity  of  slabs  had  been 
taken  down  from  the  walls,  and  laid  ready 
for  removal,  and  another  place  where  they 
were  setting  up  these  same  slabs,  turning 
their  faces  to  the  back  wall,  preparatory  to 
new  cutting  upon  the  other  side. 

The  immense  labor,  therefore,  which 
must  have  been  expended  upon  the  mounds, 
palaces,  and  temples  of  ancient  Nineveh, 
reached  through  a course  of  many  hundred 
years,  while  the  empire  was  coming  up  to 
its  height. 

Bricks,  which  entered  so  largely  into  this 
Assyrian  architecture,  were  of  two  kinds, 


160 


NINEVEH; OR, 


the  sun-dried  and  the  kiln-burnt,  and  the 
manner  of  making  them  among  the  As- 
syrians was  doubtless  essentially  the  same 
as  with  the  Egyptians.  This  was  the  labor 
in  which  the  lives  of  the  children  of  Israel 
were  made  hard,  u in  mortar  and  in  brick,” 
during  their  sore  bondage  under  the  Pha- 
raohs of  Egypt.  In  the  sun-dried  brick 
only  was  the  straw  used.  This  was  trod 
into  the  mortar  before  the  brick  was  shaped, 
and  helped  to  give  firmness  and  consistency 
by  tying  the  whole  mass  together,  as  with 
threads.  With  the  Egyptians,  to  make  a 
certain  number  of  these  bricks  was  a day’s 
work,  the  straw  being  furnished.  But 
when  the  children  of  Israel  began  to  grow 
uneasy  in  their  hard  servitude,  Pharaoh, 
reasoning  as  wicked  and  hard-hearted  ty- 
rants generally  do,  thought  that  he  could 
cure  them  of  their  uneasiness,  by  taking 
away  this  straw,  and  still  requiring  them 
to  return  the  same  number  of  brick  at  the 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


161 


end  of  the  day.  To  do  this,  they  must  go 
great  distances,  and  gather  for  themselves 
the  coarse  stubble  left  upon  the  fields,  often 
consuming  their  time  in  fruitless  efforts  to 
find  it,  making  it  almost  impossible  to  fin- 
ish their  allotted  tasks.  A haughty  tyranny 
like  this  almost  always  uses  itself  up  in 
this  world,  by  becoming  so  arrogant  and 
unreasonable  that  it  is  no  longer  possible 
for  God  or  man  to  endure  it.  Could  it 
only  keep  itself  in  a moderate  and  some- 
what reasonable  state,  its  dominion  might 
last.  But  it  grows  violent  and  overbearing 
by  what  it  feeds  upon,  and  is,  at  length,  no 
longer  to  be  borne.  So  it  was  in  Egypt, 
so  it  was  in  Assyria,  so  it  was  in  Rome, 
and  so  it  will  be  with  every  system  of  des- 
potism where  one  man  makes  multitudes 
of  his  fellow-men  the  mere  instruments  of 
his  pleasure  and  pride,  with  no  pity  for 
their  sorrows,  and  no  mercy  for  them  in 
their  toils. 


11 


162 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


The  Kiln-burn  brick  were  used  where 
greater  strength  was  needed,  or  where  open 
exposure  to  the  weather  would  quickly  use 
up  those  of  the  other  kind.  It  is  probable 
that  the  top  of  these  great  mounds  were 
levelled,  and  covered  with  these  burnt 
brick.  The  sides  of  the  mounds,  around 
almost  their  whole  extent,  are  supposed  to 
have  been  faced  with  solid  perpendicular 
walls,  of  the  sun-dried  brick. 

Nothing  was  spared  which  could  give 
these  great  works  pomp  and  majesty,  but 
of  the  upper  finish  and  decorations  we 
know  comparatively  little,  and  we  will  not, 
therefore,  at  temp1,  to  describe  it 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


163 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CONNECTION  OF  THIS  WHOLE  SUBJECT  WITH  THE 
OLD  TESTAMENT  SCRIPTURES. 

The  most  important  feature  of  these 
grand  discoveries  at  Nineveh,  as  well  as 
those  which  have  since  been  made  at  Baby- 
lon, is  the  strong  and  irresistible  testimony 
they  bear  to  the  truth  of  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures.  We  have  already  had  frequent 
occasion  to  refer  to  this  point  in  the  course 
of  this  volume,  but  for  the  proper  illus- 
tration of  the  subject  it  is  needful  that  we 
give  it  a separate  chapter,  and  that  not  a 
brief  one. 

The  quotations  which  we  have  already 
made  may  serve  to  show  how  frequent  the 


164 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


references  are  in  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel, 
in  Daniel,  Nahum,  and  Zephaniah,  and 
other  prophets,  to  what  was  going  on 
through  a long  period  of  time  in  the  As- 
syrian Empire  in  general,  and  in  the  cities 
of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  in  particular. 
The  subject  is  also  largely  referred  to  in 
the  books  of  Kings,  the  two  books  of 
Chronicles,  and  the  books  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah.  But  we  prefer  to  confine  our^ 
remarks  mainly  to  the  prophets,  using  the 
other  books,  as  may  be  convenient,  for  illus- 
tration. These  men,  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  Dan- 
iel, and  the  others,  claim  to  have  lived  while 
these  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  Empires 
were  in  their  glory  — to  have  looked  on  as 
living  witnesses,  standing  sometimes  in  the 
neighboring  land  of  Judea,  and  sometimes 
as  captives,  living  in  the  very  midst  of  the 
scenes  which  they  describe.  They  claim, 
(not  by  any  formal  declaration,  lor  that 
itself  would  be  suspicious),  but  by  a 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


1G5 


straight-forward  story  of  what  they  saw 
and  heard,  and  what  was  revealed  unto 
them,  to  have  lived  and  written  their  books, 
at  different  times,  between  eight  hundred 
and  five  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
while  these  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
monarchies  were  in  the  height  of  their 
glory,  though  destined  soon  to  fall.  They 
claim  this  just  as  absolutely  as  a man,  sit- 
ting down  to  write  his  ^own  biography, 
claims  to  have  lived  during  the  years  over 
which  his  narrative  runs.  It  would  not  be 
necessary  for  him  to  tell  his  readers,  that  he 
lived  during  those  years,  because  that  is  all 
the  while  presupposed  by  the  very  condi- 
tions of  the  case.  Isaiah  then  claims  to 
have  lived  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  be- 
fore Nineveh  fell,  and  the  old  Assyrian 
Empire  perished.  Nahum  claims  to  have 
lived  one  hundred  years  before  this  same 
event.  Amos  and  Joel,  and  some  other  of 
the  minor  prophets,  were  a little  earlier, 


1GG 


nine veh; or, 


and  Zephaniah  a little  later ; but  all  these 
men  are  set  before  us  as  having  lived  and 
written  their  books  before  the  destruction 
of  Nineveh.  „ 

Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  were  later, 
though  Jeremiah  was  born  before  the  de- 
struction of  Nineveh.  As  a writer,  how- 
ever, he  falls  in  just  after  that  time.  But 
they  claim  to  have  lived  while  Babylon 
was  in  all  its  glory  and  pride,  and  to  have 
had  knowledge  of  much  that  was  going  on 
in  that  city. 

Are  these  men  deceivers,  or,  as  some  are 
foolish  enough  to  believe,  have  certain  per- 
sons to  us  unknown,  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
ceiving mankind,  taken  these  names,  and 
written  these  books,  pretending  that  they 
lived  from  five  hundred  to  eight  hundred 
years  before  the  time  of  Christ,  though  in 
reality  they  lived  much  later,  and  after  all 
these  prophecies  were  fulfilled  ? Some,  as 
has  been  said,  are  foolish  enough  to  believe 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


167 


that.  Many  men  find  it  so  very  hard  to 
believe  the  truth,  that  they  can  believe  a 
lie,  which  has  not  only  no  foundation  in 
truth,  but  not  the  slightest  probability. 

Let  us  see  the  folly  of  supposing  that 
these  men  did  not  live  at  the  time  when  it 
is  said  they  did  — the  folly  of  believing 
that  some  comparatively  modern  impostors 
have  concocted  these  books,  in  the  name 
of  these  old  prophets.  Will  any  one  tell 
how  these  writers  happened  to  know  more 
about  the  old  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 
Empires  — their  kings  and  armies  — their 
cities  and  palaces  — their  customs  and 
habits,  than  any  one  else  ? Supposing 
these  writers  lived,  just  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  or  just  after,  in  the  first  or  second 
century,  for  no  man,  who  is  not  utterly 
gone  mad  with  unbelief,  can  pretend  that 
these  books  have  not  been  in  existence 
from  that  time  down  to  the  present.  If 
any  one  chooses  to  make  the  origin  of  these 


lfi« 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


books  still  later,  he  is  perfectly  at  liberty  to 
do  so  — the  later  the  better,  so  far  as  our 
object  is  concerned.  But  we  will  suppose 
that  the  concocters  of  this  deception  lived 
just  before  the  time  of  Christ.  How  hap- 
pened they  to  have  this  great  mass  of 
knowledge  about  these  old  empires?  No- 
body gIsc  had  it.  The  empires  themselves 
had  vanished.  The  proud  old  cities  which 
had  been  their  capitals,  had  disappeared 
from  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  been  buried 
in  the  great  tomb  of  the  past.  Men  did 
not  know  even  where  they  had  stood. 
Herodotus  and  Ctesias,  and  some  other 
writers,  had  indeed  told  the  story  of  them 
after  their  fashion,  and  there  was  some 
truth  in  their  narrative,  but  a great  deal 
that  was  false.  How  happened  it  that 
these  deceivers  of  mankind  should  alone, 
of  all  the  world,  be  able  to  go  back,  and 
walk  in  thought  the  streets  of  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  and  gather  a thousand  little  inci- 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  169 

* 

dents  of  the  strange  life  of  these  cities 
the  succession  of  events  year  by  year  — the 
names  of  the  monarchs  who  ruled  in  them, 
and  the  chief  incidents  of  their  reigns  ? Re- 
cent discoveries  show  that  these  writers, 
whoever  they  were,  and  whenever  they 
lived,  did  indeed  know  more  of  Nineveh 
and  Babylon  than  any  other  writers.  Yea, 
more  than  this,  their  writings  have  been 
tested  in  a great  multitude  of  points,  by 
these  recent  discoveries,  and  as  yet  they 
have  not  been  convicted  of  a single  serious 
mistake,  while  the  writings  of  Herodotus, 
Ctesias,  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  others,  as 
might  be  expected,  are  found  true  enough 
in  some  things,  and  in  many  others,  far 
enough  from  true. 

Who  will  tell  us  how  these  impostors, 
writing  after  these  old  empires  were  dead 
and  buried,  should  alone,  of  all  men,  have 
been  possessed  of  these  little  secrets  ? The 
whole  thing  is  too  preposterous  and  absurd, 


170 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


for  any  but  an  infidel  to  believe.  The 
meaning  of  the  word  “ infidel ” is,  a man 
who  does  not  believe.  But  the  definition, 
if  given  to  suit  the  facts,  in  very  many 
cases,  would  be,  “ a man  who  is  ready  to 
believe,  and  who  does  believe  any  thing 
and  every  thing,  except  the  simple,  plain, 
transparent  truth.” 

In  order  to  show  how  close  and  intimate 
was  the  knowledge  which  these  Scripture 
writers  had  of  what  was  going  on  in  this 
old  empire  of  the  Assyrians,  as  revealed  in 
the  discoveries  which  Mr.  Layard  and  oth- 
ers have  recently  made,  we  propose  to  give 
a few  facts  and  illustrations.  This  arrow- 
headed,  or  cuneiform  language  of  which  we 
have  often  spoken,  and  which  was  found 
almost  everywhere  inscribed  upon  these 
Assyrian  walls,  has  been  deciphered,  and 
its  meaning  so  found  out,  that  many  of 
these  inscriptions  have  already  been  read. 
The  work  is  still  going  on,  and  far  more 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


171 


wonderful  results  may  be  obtained  in  the 
future.  But  enough  has  been  already  made 
out  to  reveal  some  curious  facts  and  coin- 
cidences. 

We  have  already,  in  the  previous  narra- 
tive, made  some  references  to  Sennacherib, 
and  to  his  hostile  attitude  toward  the  Jews 
— both  the  people  of  Israel  and  Judah,  the 
two  sections  into  which  the  Jewish  nation 
vvas  now  divided.  On  the  monuments  of 
Nineveh  is  found,  not  only  a general  confirma- 
tion of  all  the  Scripture  had  said  of  this,  but 
a confirmation  so  minute  and  particular, 
that  the  testimony  is  of  the  very  strongest 
character. 

In  the  eighteenth  chapter  of  the  second 
book  of  Kings,  we  read  as  follows : 

u Now  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  King 
Hezekiah,  did  Sennacherib,  king  of  As- 
syria, come  up  against  all  the  fenced  cities 
of  Judah,  and  took  them. 

“ And  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  sent  to 


172 


nineveit;  or, 


the  king  of  Assyria  to  Lachish,  saying : 1 
have  offended;  return  from  me:  that  which 
thou  puttest  on  me  I will  bear.  And  the 
king  of  Assyria  appointed  unto  Hezekiah, 
three  hundred  talents  of  silver  and  thirty 
talents  of  gold. 

“ And  Hezekiah  gave  him  all  the  silver 
that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
and  in  the  treasures  of  the  king’s  house. 

“ At  that  time  did  Hezekiah  cut  off  the 
gold  from  the  doors  of  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  and  from  the  pillars  which  Hezekiah, 
king  of  Judah,  had  overlaid,  and  gave  it  to 
the  king  of  Assyria.” 

The  prophet  Isaiah  mentions  the  same 
event,  in  the  opening  of  the  thirty-sixth 
hapter  of  his  book,  but  without  mention- 
h g all  these  particulars.  Isaiah  passes  on 
very  quickly  to  another  event,  which  fol- 
lowed soon  after — the  sudden  destruction 
of  the  army  of  Sennacherib,  already  no- 
ticed. But  now  we  have  to  do,  with  what 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


173 


goes  before,  concerning  which  we  have 
quoted  the  passage  from  the  book  of 
Kings. 

This  was  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  the 
reign  of  Hezekiah,  seven  hundred  and 
eleven  years  before  Christ,  and  a little 
more  than  one  hundred  years  before  the 
destruction  of  Nineveh. 

Now  among  the  records  of  the  reign  of 
Sennacherib,  found  inscribed  upon  these 
monuments  of  Nineveh,  buried  from  human 
sight  for  twenty-five  centuries,  and  first 
opened  to  the  eye  of  man  in  the  year  1846, 
we  have  the  following  remarkable  inscrip- 
tion : 

“ And  because  Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah, 
would  not  submit  to  my  yoke,  I came  up 
against  him,  and  by  force  of  arms,  and  by 
the  might  of  my  power,  I took  forty-six  of 
his  strong  fenced  cities  ; and  of  the  smaller 
towns  which  were  scattered  about,  I took 
and  plundered  a countless  lumber.  And 


174 


NINE  VEIi;  OR, 


from  those  places,  I captured  and  carried 
as  spoil,  two  hundred  thousand  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  old  and  young,  male  and 
female,  together  with  horses  and  mares, 
asses  and  camels,  oxen  and  sheep,  a count- 
less multitude.  And  Hezekiah  himself,  I 
shut  up  in  Jerusalem,  his  capital  city,  like 
a bird  in  a cage,  building  towers  round  the 
city  to  hem  him  in,  and  raising  banks  of 
earth  against  the  gates,  so  as  to  prevent 

escape Then  upon  this  Hezekiah 

there  fell  the  fear  of  the  power  of  my  arms, 
and  he  sent  out  to  me  the  chiefs  and  the 
elders  of  Jerusalem,  with  thirty  talents  of 
gold,  and  eight  hundred  talents  of  silver, 
and  divers  treasures,  a rich  and  immense 

booty All  these  things  were  brought 

to  me  at  Nineveh,  the  seat  of  my  govern- 
ment; Hezekiah  having  sent  them  by  way 
of  tribute,  and  as  a token  of  his  submission 
to  my  power.” 

The  only  real  disagreement  between  this 


THE  B URIED  CITY. 


175 


record  and  the  Scripture  account,  is  in 
reference  to  the  quantity  of  silver.  The 
Scriptures  say  three  hundred  talents , while 
the  record  at  TNmeveh  says,  eight  hundred 
talents . But  very  likely  Sennacherib 
counted  in  the  value  of  all  his  spoil,  so  as 
to  make  the  record  as  magnificent  as  he 
could,  and  it  would  be  no  very  violent  sup- 
position to  infer,  that  such  a tyrannical 
wretch  as  he  was,  might  lie,  without  much 
difficulty,  for  his  own  boasting  and  glory. 
This  discrepancy  is  a matter  of  not  the 
slightest  importance.  The  great  fact  is 
what  we  are  after  — the  wonderful  coinci- 
dence between  the  Scriptures  and  these 
monuments,  touching  the  expedition  of 
this  Assyrian  king,  in  his  war  against 
Judah. 

Supposing  now  that  these  Old  Testa- 
ment books  were  not  written  by  the  men 
whose  names  they  bear,  nor  at  the  times 
stated,  but  concocted  hundreds  of  years 


176 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


afterwards,  by  a set  of  impostors,  how 
were  these  deceivers  of  mankind  to  know 
any  thing  about  these  minute  transactions  ? 
These  details  are  stated  nowliere  in  all  the 
world,  except  on  these  monuments  of  Nin- 
eveh, and  in  these  Old  Testament  books ; 
and  according  to  our  present  supposition, 
when  these  deceivers  sit  down  to  write, 
these  books  of  course  do  not  exist,  and 
these  monuments  have  been  hundreds  of 
years  buried  up  in  the  depths  of  the  earth. 
The  utter  folly  of  any  such  supposition, 
must  be  at  once  apparent  to  every  mind. 

From  the  account  which  Sennacherib 
gives  of  this  transaction,  we  have  a glimpse 
of  the  habits  of  these  Assyrian  monarchs, 
in  the  taking  and  carrying  away  of  captives. 
He  says  that  in  this  one  expedition  he  led 
away  200,150.  It  was  only  ten  years  be- 
fore that  his  predecessor,  Shalmaneser, 
came  up  against  Hoshea,  king  of  Israel, 
who  reigned  in  Samaria,  took  the  city  of 


1 


I 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


177 


Samaria,  and  carried  away  an  uncounted 
host  of  the  ten  tribes  into  captivity.  When 
the  neighboring  nations  were  depopulated 
after  this  fashion,  we  can  see  that  there 
would  be  no  difficulty  in  building  great 
mounds  or  walls,  out  of  the  labor  of  these 
captives  alone. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  do  the  walls  of 
Nineveh,  also,  bear  upon  them  the  record 
of  the  subsequent  defeat  of  Sennacherib  — 
the  awful  destruction  of  his  army  in  a sin- 
gle night,  and  his  inglorious  and  hasty 
retreat  to  his  own  capital  ? By  no  means. 
These  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  kings  do 
not  record  any  thing  except  what  they  deem 
to  be  for  their  own  glory.  They  do  not 
tell  the  disasters  and  calamities  which 
befall  them  in  their  warlike  expeditions, 
but  only  their  conquests  and  victories. 
There  is  only  one  remarkable  exception  to 
this,  in  all  the  records  which  have  been  yet 
translated,  and  that  is  a truly  remarkable 
12 


178 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


one,  which  we  shall  soon  have  occasion  to 
notice.  It  is  said  that  no  record  has  yet 
been  found,  which  even  makes  mention  of 
the  death  of  one  of  these  monarchs.  So 
proud  and  haughty  were  they,  that  it  was 
contrary  to  their  spirit  and  fashion  to  ac- 
knowledge any  submission  even  to  the 
king  of  terrors.  The  new  monarch  tells 
the  time  of  the  beginning  of  his  own  reign, 
and  records  his  own  illustrious  achieve- 
ments, but  he  makes  no  record  of  the  death 
of  his  predecessor.  It  is  the  courtesy  which 
he  shows  to  the  buried  king,  and  in  his 
turn  he  expects  the  same  courtesy  from 
those  who  shall  come  after  him.  It  is  too 
humiliating  for  these  august  monarchs  to 
confess  in  words,  that  any  power,  in  heaven 
or  on  earth,  can  subdue  them. 

We  have  then  no  mention  of  the  strange 
and  miraculous  overthrow  of  the  army  of 
Sennacherib,  but  we  have  the  fact  con- 
firmed in  another  w ty,  almost  equally  curi- 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


170 


ous  and  strange,  and  for  the  proper  under 
standing  of  it,  a brief  explanation  may  bi 
needed. 

Hezekiah,  king  of  Judah,  had  paid  hh 
costly  tribute,  and  bought  himself  off  foi 
the  time  being,  from  the  terrible  incursions 
of  these  Assyrian  armies.  But  the  tax  had 
been  so  heavy  upon  him,  and  upon  his  peo- 
ple — so  many  of  his  cities  and  towns  had 
been  laid  waste,  and  so  many  of  his  people 
led  into  captivity,  that  he  found  himself  in 
a humbled,  weak,  and  impoverished  state, 
ready  to  turn  almost  any  way  to  find 
relief. 

Just  at  this  time,  Sennacherib  was 
engaged  also  in  a war  with  Egypt,  and 
Hezekiah  thought  that  by  making  common 
cause  with  Egypt,  the  two  nations,  by 
their  united  energy,  might  subdue  this 
proud  Assyrian,  and  so  reduce  him,  that 
he  in  his  turn  would  be  obliged  to  yield, 
and  restore  the  spoil  which  he  had  taken.  It 


ISO 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


was  because  Sennacherib  had  discovered 
this  project  of  union  between  the  two 
nations^  that  he  returned  so  suddenly,  and 
with  such  fury,  to  punish  the  Jewish  king. 
He  was  at  this  very  time  operating  against 
Egypt,  and  was  moving  in  that  direction 
with  his  army,  at  the  time  of  its  destruc- 
tion. He  was  at  Libnah,  a place  south  of 
Jerusalem,  and  about  half  way  from  that 
city  to  the  borders  of  Egypt.  At  the  time 
he  received  the  tribute,  shortly  before,  his 
armies  were  under  the  very  walls  of  Jeru- 
salem, but  now,  he  was  some  twenty  miles 
to  the  south. 

These  facts  will  serve  as  an  explanation 
for  what  follows.  The  old  Egyptians  have 
a record  in  their  annals  of  this  sudden  and 
terrible  overthrow  of  Sennacherib  and  his 
army.  The  Egyptians  were  very  much  of 
the  same  spirit  as  the  Assyrians,  and  while 
they  did  not  like  to  tell  of  their  own  defeats 
and  disasters,  they  ai  so  were  very  careful 


THE  B JRIED  CITY. 


181 


to  make  a note  of  every  thing,  which  was 
thought  to  turn  to  their  own  glory.  And 
this  sudden  defeat  of  Sennacherib,  break- 
ing up  for  the  time  the  war  which  he  was 
making  upon  themselves,  was  just  the 
event  for  them  to  record. 

And  there  is  this  strange  and  peculiar 
circumstance  about  this  record.  The  Egyp- 
tians do  not  pretend  to  say  that  Sennach- 
erib was  conquered  by  the  force  of  their 
arms,  but  the  story  was,  that  their  gods 
miraculously  sent  into  the  camp  of  the 
Assyrians,  one  night,  an  innumerable  num- 
ber of  rats,  which  eat  up  all  the  Assyrian 
bow-strings,  so  that  when  they  rose  in  the 
morning,  their  armor  was  in  such  a condi- 
tion that  it  could  not  be  used,  and  the  army 
had  to  flee  home  as  fast  as  possible.  Now 
this  is  just  about  such  a story,  as  a people 
like  the  Egyptians  would  be  likely  to  make 
up.  They  did  not  acknowledge  the  true  God 
-—the  God  of  Israel,  and  they  were  dis- 


182 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


posed  to  think  that  any  disaster  happening 
to  Sennacherib,  happened  for  their  benefit: 
and  so  they  took  the  favor  to  themselves, 
and  ascribed  to  their  own  gods  the  honor 
of.  Some  of  the  early  historians  found 
this  strange  story  among  the  Egyptians, 
and  recorded  it,  and  in  this  round-about 
way  it  is  a wonderful  confirmation  of  the 
Scripture  record  of  the  destruction  of  the 
Assyrian  army. 

We  have  dwelt  upon  this  one  point  in 
the  coincidences  of  Jewish  and  Assyrian 
history,  longer  than  we  had  intended,  but 
in  order  to  make  it  clear  and  plain,  it  was 
needful  that  it  should  be  set  forth  in  its 
fulness ; and  thus  exhibited,  I think  no 
one  can  resist  the  impression,  that  it  is  a 
most  remarkable  testimony  to  the  truth  of 
the  Scripture  records. 

In  treating  this  point,  we  have  hinted  of 
one  remarkable  exception  to  the  general 
rule  of  these  Assyrian  and  Babylonian 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


183 


monarchs,  not  to  record  any  thing  against 
themselves,  and  though  this  instance  be- 
longs not  to  Nineveh,  but  to  Babylon,  we 
may  as  well  turn  to  it  at  this  time  while 
the  subject  is  fresh  upon  the  mind. 

One  of  the  records  or  inscriptions  found 
at  Babylon,  is  called  the  “ standard  inscrip- 
tion ” by  Nebuchadnezzar.  This  has  been 
translated,  at  length,  by  Sir  Henry  Rawlin- 
son,  and  is  a truly  remarkable  document. 
In  it  the  monarch  records  almost  all  his 
great  deeds,  especially  in  the  way  of  build- 
ing splendid  structures,  and  fortifying  the 
city  of  Babylon.  In  the  course  of  this 
inscription,  occurs  the  following  very  re- 
markable passage.  Some  few  of  the  words 
are  wanting,  or  could  not  be  made  out. 
We  give  the  passage  precisely  as  it  stands 
in  the  translation  of  Mr.  Rawlinson : 

“ Four  years(?)  the  seat  of  my  kingdom 
in  the  city  ....  which  ....  did  not  re- 
joice mj/  heart.  In  all  my  dominions  I did 


184 


NINEVEIi;  OR, 


not  build  a high  place  of  power;  the  pre- 
cious treasures  of  my  kingdom  I did  not  lay 
up.  In  Babylon,  buildings  for  myself  and 
the  honor  of  my  kingdom  I did  not  lay  out. 
In  the  worship  of  Merodach  my  lord,  the 
joy  of  my  heart(?),  in  Babylon,  the  city  of 
his  sovereignty,  and  the  seat  of  my  empire, 
I did  not  sing  his  praises, (?)  and  I did  not 
furnish  his  altars  (i.  e.  with  victims),  nor 
did  I clear  out  the  canals.” 

This  is  all  of  the  passage  which  is  given, 
but  it  is  said  to  run  on  still  further,  in  the 
same  general  style,  telling  other  things 
which  he  did  not  do. 

This  is  said  to  be  the  only  instance  yet 
found,  in  which  one  of  these  monarchs 
puts  on  "these  public  records  of  the  empire, 
any  thing  against  himself,  and,  in  this  case, 
the  self-reproof  is  of  the  very  mildest  kind. 
He  does  not  tell  us  what  he  did  do  — or 
what  was  the  reason  for  this  state  of  inac- 
tion. He  simply  tells  us  what  he  did  not 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


185 


do.  But  the  attention  is  at  once  arrested 
by  the  strange  peculiarity  of  the  language. 
He  seems  to  have  been  driven  to  this  kind 
of  public  confession,  by  some  remarkable 
experiences.  He  feels,  apparently,  that  so 
much  as  this,  at  least,  he  must  thus  pub- 
licly acknowledge  in  order  to  find  pros- 
perity and  peace.  Can  this  refer  to  any 
thing  else  than  that  scene  in  the  life  of 
Nebuchadnezzar,  so  graphically  described 
by  the  prophet  Daniel. 

“ At  the  end  of  twelve  months  he  walked 
in  the  palace  of  the  kingdom  of  Babylon. 

“ The  king  spake,  and  said,  Is  not  this 
great  Babylon,  that  I have  built  for  the 
house  of  the  kingdom  by  the  might  of  my 
power,  and  for  the  honor  of  my  majesty  ? 

“ While  the  word  was  in  the  king’s 
mouth,  there  fell  a voice  from  heaven,  say- 
ing, O king  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  thee  it  is 
spoken;  The  kingdom  is  departed  from 
thee : 


186 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


“ And  they  shall  drive  thee  from  men, 
and  thy  dwelling  shall  be  with  the  beasts 
of  the  field  : they  shall  make  thee  to  eat 
grass  as  oxen,  and  seven  times  shall  pass 
over  thee,  until  thou  know  that  the  Most 
High  ruleth  in  the  kingdom  of  men,  and 
givelh  it  to  whomsoever  he  will. 

u The  same  hour  was  the  thing  fulfilled 
upon  Nebuchadnezzar:  and  he  was  driven 
from  men,  and  did  eat  grass  as  oxen,  and  his 
body  was  wet  with  the  dew  of  heaven,  till 
his  hairs  were  grown  like  eagles’  feathers, 
and  his  nails  like  birds’  claws. 

“ And  at  the  end  of  the  days  I Nebu- 
chadnezzar lifted  up  mine  eyes  unto 
heaven,  and  mine  understanding  returned 
unto  me,  and  I blessed  the  Most  High,  and 
I praised  and  honored  him  that  liveth  for 
ever,  whose  dominion  is  an  everlasting 
dominion,  and  his  kingdom  is  from  genera- 
tion to  generation  : 

“ And  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


187 


reputed  as  nothing : and  he  doeth  accord- 
ing to  his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth : and 
none  can  stay  his  hand,  or  say  unto  him, 
What  doest  thou  ? 

“ At  the  same  time  my  reason  returned 
unto  me : and  for  the  glory  of  my  king- 
dom, mine  honor  and  brightness  returned 
unto  me  ; and  my  counsellors  and  my  lords 
sought  unto  me  ; and  I was  established  in 
my  kingdom,  and  excellent  majesty  was 
added  unto  me. 

“ Now  I,  Nebuchadnezzar,  praise  and 
extol  and  honor  the  King  of  heaven,  all 
whose  works  are  truth,  and  his  ways  judg- 
ment : and  those  that  walk  in  pride  he  is 
able  to  abase.” 

Among  the  many  wonderful  things  re- 
lated in  the  book  of  Daniel,  this  has  always 
been  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  strange 
and  improbable.  And  it  is  certainly  a 
peculiar  providence  of  God,  that  even  this 


MS 


» i n e v o h;  or, 


.“tumid  find  smell  a strong  ami  emphatic 

confirmation  in  the  ruins  of  the  old  citv  of 

• 

Babylon,  uncovered  and  brought  to  light 
in  this  nineteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era.  So  almost  miraculous  did  it  seem  for 
a time,  that  this  strange  language  of  the 
A Syrians,  should  l>e  read  and  found  to 

w 

contain  these  strong  and  unequivocal 
proofs  and  attestations  to  the  truth  of 
Scripture,  that  scholars  doubted  whether 
llawlinson  had,  indeed,  translated  the 
passages  from  these  old  monuments  — 
whether  he  might  not  be  deceiving  him- 
self, and  deceiving  others  in  supposing 
that  he  had  found  the  true  meaning  of 
these  inscriptions.  But  as  the  years  pass 
on,  and  his  work  remains  uncontradicted, 
it  is  to  be  presumed  that  he  is  on  the  track 
of  truth.  Ilis  character  is  too  high  and 
honorable  to  allow  the  thought  that  he  is 
intentionally  deceiving  the  world,  and 
there  is  no  way  of  making  these  old  char- 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


189 


acters  give  anj  intelligent  utterance,  unless 
it  is  the  utterance  of  truth.  In  the  very 
beginning  of  the  work,  indeed,  he  might 
fancy  that  he  had  found  meaning  where 
there  was  none.  But  any  long  application 
of  a false  theory  to  such  a subject,  must 
inevitably  prove  its  falsity,  and  we  are 
driven  therefore  to  the  conclusion,  that 
after  such  a lapse  of  time,  as  has  now 
transpired,  if  Rawlinson  is  honest,  then  he 
must  be  essentially  on  the  path  of  truth. 
Besides  he  is  not  the  only  one  engaged  in 
these  researches.  Others  also  have  made 
discoveries.  If  our  impression  is  right, 
another  scholar,  Dr.  Hincks,  did  some  of 
the  most  important  elementary  work  in 
this  department.  “ In  the  multitude  of 
counsellors  there  is  safety,”  and  such  is  the 
natural  pride  of  scholarship  among  men, 
that  we  may  be  very  sure,  that  one  man 
could  not  well  impose  upon  the  world  by  a 


190 


NINEVEH  OR, 


false  theory,  when  there  are  so  many 
watchful  eyes  to  detect  his. 

There  is  another  very  remarkable  coinci- 
dence, which  we  will  mention. 

In  the  thirty-third  chapter  of  the  second 
book  of  Chronicles,  we  have  this  passage  : 
“ And  the  Lord  spake  to  Manasseh,  and 
to  his  people,  but  they  would  not  hearken. 

“ Wherefore  the  Lord  brought  upon 
them  the  captains  of  the  host  of  the  king 
of  Assyria,  which  took  Manasseh  among 
the  thorns  and  bound  him  with  fetters  and 
carried  him  to  Babylon 

Manasseh  was  the  King  of  Judah,  the 
son  of  Hezekiah,  and  his  immediate  suc- 
cessor upon  the  throne.  Esarhaddon  was 
the  son  of  Sennacherib,  and  was  also  his 
successor  on  the  throne  of  Assyria.  Esar- 
haddon and  Manasseh  therefore  were 
contemporary,  as  Sennacherib  and  Heze- 
kiah had  been  a few  years  before.  It  was 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


191 


under  Esarhaddon,  then,  that  Manasseh 
was  carried  into  captivity. 

Now  a sceptical  reader  of  the  Bible, 
having  a somewhat  critical  knowledge  of 
historical  facts,  on  coming  to  the  passage 
which  we  have  quoted,  might  stop  and  say, 
“ There  is  a mistake  evidently.  Why 
should  Manasseh  be  carried  to  Babylon, 
The  old  Assyrian  empire,  of  which  Nine- 
veh was  the  capital,  is  not  yet  at  end. 
This  is  in  the  year  six  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-seven before  Christ,  and  Nineveh  did 
not  fall  for  many  years  after  this.  If  car- 
ried away  at  all,  he  would  be  carried  to 
Nineveh,  where  Esarhaddon  had  his  gov- 
ernment.” 

Now  these  old  monuments  not  only  ex- 
pressly confirm  the  fact  that  Manasseh  was 

% 

carried  captive,  but  they  also  furnish  the 
reason  why  he  was  carried  to  Babylon  in- 
stead of  Nineveh. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  destruction  of 


1.92 


nineyed;  or, 


Nineveh,  Babylon  was  a dependent  prov- 
ince. The  rulers  of  that  province,  received 
authority  to  rule  from  the  king  of  Nine- 
veh. They  received  their  appointment 
from  him,  and  owed  allegiance  to  him. 
But  Esarhaddon,  for  some  reason,  took  a 
fancy,  that  instead  of  ruling  at  Babylon  by 
a deputy  or  governor,  he  would  rule  there  in 
his  own  person.  He  built  himself  a palace 
in  Babylon,  and  sometimes  resided  there, 
and  held  his  court  there,  and  sometimes  at 
Nineveh.  He  was  the  only  one  of  all  the 
Assyrian  monarchs  that  did  this.  All  the 
others  kept  their  court  at  Nineveh,  and 
ruled  at  Babylon,  through  others. 

This,  then,  was  the  reason  why  Manasseh 
was  earned  to  Babylon  instead  of  Nine- 
veh, so  that  even  in  such  a little  unimpor- 
tant, incidental  matter  as  this,  the  Scrip- 
tures are  exactly  right.  In  all  the  other 
captivities  among  the  Jews,  so  long  as  the 
old  city  of  Nineveh  stood,  the  train  of  cap- 


THE  B URIED  CITY. 


193 


tives  was  led  away  to  the  city  — the  capi- 
tal of  the  empire.  But  in  the  case  of 
Manasseh  it  was  otherwise,  and  the  reason 
of  this  singular  fact,  now  clearly  and  beau- 
tifully appears. 

Take  another  instance  equally  remark- 
able. Daniel,  in  his  book  of  prophecy, 
gives  a very  graphic  account  of  the  great 
feast  of  Belshazzar,  and  of  the  taking  of 
the  city  of  Babylon,  on  the  night  of  this 
feast,  by  the  army  of  the  Medes  and  Per- 
sians, when  Belshazzar  was  put  to  death. 
It  has  puzzled  scholars  very  much  to  ascer- 
tain who  this  Belshazzar  was.  His  name 
does  not  appear  in  any  of  the  writings  of 
the  old  historians,  and  there  was  nothing 
except  the  simple  story  of  Daniel  to  show 
that  a man  of  that  name  had  ever  been 
king  of  Babylon.  Many,  therefore,  thought 
that  the  story  of  Daniel  was  a pure  inven- 
tion. Moreover,  the  real  king  of  Babylon, 
Nabonadius,  was  not  killed  it  was  said,  at 


13 


194 


NINEVEH;  OR. 


the  time  the  city  was  taken,  but  was  absent 
from  the  city,  and  escaped.  Now  here 
was  a point  in  the  history  of  those  times, 
that  had  never  been  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained. 

Recent  investigations  have  found  the 
explanation  of  this,  and  established  the 
truth  of  Daniel’s  narrative. 

It  appears,  that  this  Nabonadius,  who 
was  really  king  of  Babylon,  at  the  time  it 
was  taken,  had  a son  named  Bil-sharuzur 
(as  the  name  stands  in  the  inscription),  and 
during  the  last  two  years  of  his  reign,  he 
had  associated  this  son  with  him,  on  the 
throne,  allowing  him  the  royal  title.  This 
son,  it  was,  without  doubt,  who  held  the 
feast,  and  who  perished  in  the  attack  upon 
the  city.  As  the  father  was  not  yet  dead, 
Belshazzar  would  not  stand  in  the  list  of 
kings  proper,  and  that  is  the  reason  why 
his  name  is  not  found  in  the  old  Babylon- 
ian records.  This  discovery  was  made  by 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  195 

Mr.  Rawlinson,  in  deciphering  these  old 
inscriptions. 

Moreover,  the  time  of  the  captivity  in 
Babylon,  seventy  years , accords  almost  per- 
fectly with  the  years  of  the  reigns  of  the 
several  kings  named  on  these  monuments. 
Daniel,  with  his  brethren,  was  carried  into 
captivity  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  reign 
of  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  by  adding  together 
the  length  of  his  reign,  and  those  that  fol- 
lowed, up  to  the  taking  of  the  city,  and  we 
have  the  length  of  the  captivity  as  stated 
by  Daniel,  almost  exactly. 

We  have  thus  taken  a few  prominent 
instances  to  illustrate  the  close  and  inti- 
mate knowledge,  which  these  Jewish 
writers  had  of  what  was  going  on  in  the 
Assyrian  Empire. 

We  cannot,  however,  by  two  or  three 
prominent  instances  of  this  kind,  reveal  the 
full  strength  of  this  argument.  The  great 
and  massive  weight  of  an  argument  of  this 


1% 


n ineveh;  or, 


kind,  is  made  up  of  ten  thousand  little, 
shadowy,  almost  intangible  things.  When 
a writer  or  a speaker  is  discoursing  of 
matters  which  he  perfectly  understands, — 
matters  of  which  he  has  a perfect  fulness 
of  knowledge,  he  is  sure  to  be  right  all  the 
time,  not  in  the  great  points  alone,  but  in 
till  the  little  points, — the  things  that  come 
in  incidentally,  and  of  which  at  the  time 
lie  takes  no  special  thought. 

Paley,  in  his  “ Hone  Paulina',”  has  con- 
structed an  argument,  on  this  basis,  to 
prove  the  truth  of  the  New  Testament, 
lie  takes  the  “ Acts  of  the  Apostles,”  and 
compares  the  narratives  therein  contained 
with  Paul’s  Epistles,  in  order  to  show  the 
nice,  delicate,  unt bought  of  coincidences 
between  them — coincidences  so  remote 
and  shadowy,  that  there  could  by  no  possi- 
bility have  been  any  plan  or  concerted 
arrangement  in  the  writers  to  produce 
them.  The  more  faint  and  unnoticeable 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


197 


the  coincidence,  all  the  better,  provided  it 
be  a real  one ; because  so  much  greater  is 
the  evidence,  that  it  could  not  have  been 
the  result  of  contrivance,  but  must  spring 
alone  from  truth  and  reality. 

Now,  just  such  an  argument  as  this 
might  be  constructed,  showing  just  the 
same  kind,  and  almost  an  endless  number 
of  this  class  of  coincidences  between  the 
Old  Testament  books,  and  the  facts  of 
Assyrian  history  and  custom.  These  coin- 
cidences extend  almost  to  every  thing  — 
great  historical  events  — style  and  manners 
of  the  people  — general  spirit  and  character 
of  the  empire  — nature  of  its  idolatry, 
names  of  the  gods,  and  methods  of  worship 
— in  short  all  that  helped  to  make  up  the 
sum  total  of  Assyrian  life.  These  Jewish 
prophets  and  historians  write  as  if  they 
perfectly  understood  this  subject,  and  the 
discoveries  now  made,  prove  most  conclu- 
sively that  they  did  understand  it.  While 


198 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


many  idle  stories  in  Herodotus,  in  Ctesias, 
and  in  other  ancient  writers,  shrink  and 
vanish  into  thin  air,  in  the  light  of  these 
discoveries,  the  Scriptures  stand  all  the 
more  firmly  and  securely  for  this  investiga- 
tion. 

Mr.  George  Rawlinson,  brother  of  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson,  and  author  of  a work  on 
“ The  Historical  Evidences  of  the  Truth  of 
the  Scripture  Records,”  after  going  over  a 

large  section  of  this  Old  Testament  history, 

* 

in  the  light  of  modern  discovery,  and  after 
referring  to  all  the  sources  of  information 
we  have  upon  this  general  subject,  says, — 

“ All  these  sources  have  been  examined, 
and  all  have  combined  to  confirm  and  illus- 
trate the  Scriptural  narrative  at  almost 
every  point  where  it  was  possible  — or 
at  any  rate  where  it  was  probable  — 
that  they  would  have  a bearing  upon  it. 
The  result  is  a general  confirmation  of  the 
entire  body  of  leading  facts  — minute  con- 


THE  B URIED  CITY. 


199 


firrnation  occasionally  — and  a complete 
absence  of  any  thing  that  can  be  reasonably 
viewed  as  serious  discrepancy.  A few  dif- 
ficulties— chiefly  chronological  — meet  us; 
but  they  are  fewer  in  proportion,  than  are 
found  in  the  profane  history  of  almost  any 
remote  period ; and  the  faith  must  be  weak, 
indeed,  to  which  they  would  prove  a stum- 
bling-block. Generally  throughout  this 
whole  period,  there  is  that  ‘ admirable 
agreement  ’ which  Niebuhr  observes  upon 
toward  its  close,  between  the  profane 
records  and  the  accounts  of  Scripture.  . . . 
The  monarchs  themselves,  the  order  of 
their  names,  their  relationship  where  it  is 
indicated,  their  actions  so  far  as  they  come 
under  notice,  are  the  same  in  both  the 
Jewish  and  the  native  histories ; which 
present  likewise,  here  as  elsewhere,  nume- 
rous points  of  agreement,  connected  with 
the  geography,  religion,  and  customs  of  the 
various  nations.  As  discovery  proceeds. 


200 


.NINEYEn;  OR, 


these  points  of  agreement  are  multiplied ; 
obscurities  clear  up  ; difficulties  are  solved  ; 
doubts  vanish.  It  is  only  where  profane 
records  are  wanting  or  scanty,  that  the 
sacred  narrative  is  unconfirmed,  and  rests 
solely  upon  its  own  basis.  Perhaps  a time 
may  come,  when  through  the  recovery  of 
the  complete  annals  of  Egypt,  Assyria, 
and  Babylon,  we  may  obtain  for  the  whole 
of  the  Sacred  History,  that  sort  of  illustra- 
tion, which  is  now  confined  to  certain  por- 
tions of  it.  God  who  disposes  all  things 
according  to  the  counsel  of  his  own  will, 
and  who  has  given  to  the  present  age  such 
treasures  of  long-buried  knowledge,  may 
have  yet  greater  things  in  store  for  us,  to 
be  brought  to  light  in  His  own  good  time. 
When  the  voice  of  men  grows  faint  and 
feeble,  then  the  very  ‘ stones  ’ are  made  to 
* cry  out.’  ‘ Blessed  be  the  name  of  God 
for  ever  and  ever,  for  wisdom  and  might 
are  his He  revealeth  the  deep  and 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


201 


secret  things  ; He  knoweth  what  is  in  the 
darkness,  and  the  light  dwelleth  with 
Him.’  ” 

Again  we  ask,  How  could  these  Old  Tes- 
tament writers  have  known  these  things 
unless  they  lived  at  the  time  they  claim  to 
have  lived  ? Who  can  be  made  to  believe 
after  this,  that  a set  of  impostors,  living 
long  after  this  time,  and  when  Nineveh  and 
Babylon  had  both  been  buried  in  the  earth, 
and  all  close  and  familiar  knowledge  of 
them  had  perished  from  the  memory  of 
men  — who  will  believe  that  under  such 
circumstances,  a company  of  deceivers 
could  incorporate  into  their  books  these 
facts  and  incidents  of  Assyrian  life,  which 
nobody  else,  at  least,  knew  ? On  the  sup- 
position we  are  now  making,  as  we  have 
before  said,  these  Old  Testament  books 
have  no  existence  whatever  at  the  time 
these  men  sit  down  to  write.  Every  thing 
is  to  be  done  by  them,  and  the  Assyrian 


202 


NINEVEli;  OR, 


empire  itself  has  perished  and  disappeared 
from  human  view.  That  man  surely  must 
have  a most  monstrous  kind  of  faith  who 
can  believe  that  this  could  be  done,  but 
cannot  or  will  not  believe  that  Isaial^ wrote 
his  book  of  prophecy  between  seven  and 
eight  hundred  years  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  — who  cannot  or  will  not  believe 
that  Daniel  wrote  his  book  after  a living 
experience  in  the  city  of  Babylon,  where 
he  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the  things  which 
he  describes.  Great  infidels  have  almost 
always  exhibited  these  monstrosities  of 
faith,  believing  things  a thousand  times 
more  improbable  than  any  which  they  are 
required  to  believe.  A man  who  cannot 
think  that  the  Holy  Spirit  ever  moves  upon 
the  soul  of  man,  turning  him  from  sin  unto 
holiness,  will  very  readily  believe  that  the 
spirits  of  departed  men  upset  tables  and 
chairs,  and  do  a thousand  other  strange 
and  marvellous  tricks. 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  203 

And  when  we  concede,  as  we  must,  that 
these  books  were  written  at  the  time  when 
they  purport  to  have  been  written,  then 
there  is  another  still  more  important  point 
which  we  must  concede,  namely,  that 
through  some  power  granted  unto  them,  they 
could  accurately  foretell  things  which  were 
to  come  to  pass  centuries  after  their  day. 

These  men  not  only  described  with  per- 
fect accuracy  what  was  going  on  in  Nine- 
veh and  Babylon,  in  their  own  times,  but 
they  foretell,  in  the  most  absolute  and  un- 
equivocal terms,  the  utter  ruin  and  destruc- 
tion which  awaited  these  cities.  When  we 
sit  here,  so  long  after  these  events,  and 
think  loosely  on  the  subject  of  prophecy, 
we  may  fancy  that  somehow  it  was  not 
very  difficult  to  foretell  these  things.  But 
it  was  just  as  hard  for  the  human  mind  to 
foretell  any  event  then  as  it  is  now  — yea, 
harder,  because  the  long  experience  of  the 
world  has,  in  a measure,  established  certain 


204 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


laws  and  probabilities  touching  the  course 
of  nations  and  empires,  which  laws  were 
not  then  so  well  known. 

Yet  let  us  try  our  hand  at  prophecy,  in 
order  that  we  may  understand  just  what  it 
is  to  look  into  the  future.  Let  any  one  of 
our  readers  venture  to  tell  exactly,  and 
with  an  air  of  authority,  what  will  happen 
to  the  city  of  Constantinople,  for  example, 
for  the  next  two  hundred  years.  Let  him 
say  whether  it  will,  at  the  end  of  that  time, 
be  the  property  of  the  Turkish  empire,  of 
which  it  is  now  the  capital,  or  whether  the 
Russians,  the  French,  or  the  English  will 
then  have  possession  of  it,  — let  him  even 
say,  if  he  feels  bold  enough  to  make  the 
declaration,  that  the  city  will  not  then  exist 
as  a city;  that  it  will  be  only  a ruinous 
heap ; that  “ flocks  shall  lie  down  in  the 
midst  of  her,  all  the  beasts  of  the  nations  ; 
both  the  cormorant  and  the  bittern”  (crea- 
tures that  love  solitude  and  desolation) 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


205 


“ shal]  lodge  in  the  upper  lintels  of  it ; their 
voice  shall  sing  in  the  windows,  desolation 
shall  be  in  the  thresholds.” 

Is  there  any  reason  known  to  man,  why 
a prophecy  like  this  should  not  seem  as 
natural,  and  as  likely  to  be  fulfilled,  in  case 
of  Constantinople,  as  did  the  ancient  pro- 
phecies respecting  Nineveh  and  Babylon  at 
the  time  they  were  uttered  ? In  fact,  so 
far  as  human  wisdom  is  concerned,  the 
probability  of  great  and  sudden  changes,  if 
not  of  absolute  ruin,  is  far  stronger  in  case 
of  Constantinople  than  it  was  in  respect  to 
these  ancient  cities,  at  the  time  Isaiah  and 
Nahum  and  Zephaniah  wrote.  The  Turk- 
ish empire,  of  which  Constantinople  is  the 
capital,  is  in  a very  weak  and  crazy  condi- 
tion, and  men  are  expecting  great  changes 
of  some  kind  at  no  distant  day.  The  Turks 
themselves  expect  change.  They  feel  that 
a kind  of  doom  rests  upon  them?  They 
have  lost  all  their  old  invading,  conquering 


206 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


spirit,  and  seem  silently  and  hopelessly 
waiting  till  their  end  shall  come. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  these  ancient 
prophets  wrote,  the  Assyrian  empire  was 
in  the  fulness  of  its  strength.  No  power 
on  earth  could  stand  before  it.  It  seemed 
nearing  the  point  of  absolute  and  universal 
dominion,  such  as  the  Roman  empire  at- 
tained in  a later  age.  The  nations  far 
around  paid  tribute  to  it.  The  swelling 
pride  of  these  Assyrian  monarchs  was  that 
of  men  who,  by  a long  experience,  had 
learned  to  think  of  themselves  as  the  abso- 
lute lords  and  masters  of  all  surrounding 
peoples. 

It  was  not  likely,  then,  to  a mere  human 
judgment,  that  this  empire  was  suddenly 
to  fall  — that  these  proud  cities  were  sud- 
denly to  disappear  from  the  earth. 

But  to  come  back  to  our  own  work  of 
prophecy.  We  are  to  tell,  for  two  hundred 
years  to  come,  the  fortunes  of  the  city  of 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


207 


Constantinople.  Under  the  easier  condi- 
tions and  stronger  probabilities  of  this 
modern  case,  we  are  to  foretell  (not  guess 
>but  foretell  absolutely)  what  is  to  come 
upon  this  city.  Let  any  man  try  his  hand 
at  this  business,  and  he  will  understand 
what  it  is  to  prophesy.  Isaiah  foretold 
events,  without  any  roundabout  mystifica- 
tion and  process  of  guessing.  He  asserted 
what  should  come  to  pass,  in  the  most 
positive  and  unequivocal  terms.  Nahum 
foretold  the  destruction  of  Nineveh,  in 
language  as  true  and  graphic  as  any  histo- 
rian could  have  used,  in  describing  the 
scenes  afterwards. 

God  was  working  through  their  minds, 
and  revealing  to  them  things  which  in  the 
future  should  come  to  pass.  There  is  no 
other  explanation  of  it.  No  man  can  de- 
vise any  explanation  which  is  not  a thou- 
sand times  more  improbable  than  this. 

And  with  a single  interesting  fact  which 


208 


NINEVEIIJ  OR, 

has  happened  to  come  to  our  knowledge, 
and  which  has  probably  never  been  before 
published,  we  close  this  chapter. 

Before  Mr.  Layard  engaged  in  this  work 
among  the  ruins  of  Nineveh,  he  had  no 
very  settled  belief  in  the  Scriptures,  espe- 
cially in  what  may  be  called  the  super- 
natural elements  of  them.  He  accepted 
them,  doubtless,  as  a general  record  of 
facts,  but  in  respect  to  miracles  and  pro- 
phecy he  was  where  a great  many  men  are, 
in  a kind  of  cloud-land,  with  a half-way 
feeling  that  to  believe  in  such  things  is 
superstition. 

He  was  once  dining  in  Constantinople 
at  the  table  of  Sir  Stratford  Canning,  after- 
wards his  great  patron  and  assistant.  He 
had  at  that  time  been  travelling  through 
Palestine,  but  had  not  begun  his  work  at 
Nineveh.  At  the  table,  also,  was  another 
Englishman,  Mr.  Keith,  author  of  the  work 
44  On  the  Prophecies.”  Several  of  our 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


209 


American  missionaries  were  present,  as 
well  as  other  individuals. 

% In  the  course  of  the  sitting,  conversation 
turned  upon  the  subject  of  prophecy,  and 
Mr.  Keith,  who  was  full  of  information  on 
this  point,  talked  earnestly  a‘nd  enthusias- 
tically. At  length  Mb*.  Layard  ventured  a 
remark  designed  to  show  a kind  of  con- 
tempt for  this  whole  subject,  implying  that 
he  did  not  believe  in  prophecy  at  all.  Mr. 
Keith  turned  to  him,  when  the  following 
incident  occurred : 

“ Mr.  Layard,”  said  he,  “ did  you,  when 
in  Palestine,  pass  along  the  road  leading 
from to ” (naming  the  places). 

“ Yes,  I did.” 

“ Well,  what  was  the  most  remarkable 
thing  you  saw  on  the  road  ? What  was  it 
that  left  the  strongest  impression  on  your 
mind  at  the  end  of  the  journey?” 

“ Oh,”  replied  Layard,  66  there  was  noth- 
ing there  of  the  least  interest.  It  was  a 
n 


210 


NINEVEH; OR, 


lonely  and  desolate  road.  The  only  thing 
I remember  was,  that  I could  not  sleep 
nights  for  the  everlasting  bleating  of  the 
sheep.” 

Said  Mr.  Keith,  “ And  Sharon  shall  be  a 
fold  of  flocks,  and  the  valley  of  Achor  a 
place  for  the  herds  to  lie  down  in.”  Isa. 
65:  10. 

This  incident  was  told  us  by  one  of  the 
American  missionaries  present,  and  he  said 
that  he  never  saw  a man  more  completely 
non-plussed  than  Mr.  Layard  was  by  this 
reply. 

This  incident  is  given  to  show  the  state 
of  Mr.  Layard’s  mind  before  he  began  these 
wonderful  excavations. 

But  when  we  read  his  books,  we  see  very 
plainly  that  this  doubt  and  unbelief  have 
most  effectually  given  way,  in  the  presence 
of  those  astounding  facts  and  proofs  by 
which  he  has  since  been  confronted.  And 
no  man,  we  think,  who  is  ruled  by  reason, 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


211 


and  a love  of  truth,  and  not  by  prejudice, 
<^an  look  at  the  wonderful  revelations  which 
have  thus  been  made,  and  not  feel,  as  he 
never  felt  before,  that  the  hand  of  God  was 
in  these  Old  Testament  Scriptures. 


212 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


CHAPTER  X. 

CONCLUDING  THOUGHTS. 

In  this  closing  chapter  it  is  convenient  to 
bring  together  a few  thoughts,  which,  if 
they  are  not  very  closely  connected  one 
with  another,  will  all  have  a general  con- 
nection with  what  has  gone  before. 

And  what  impresses  us  most  in  the  re- 
view we  have  taken,  is  the  wonderful  care 
and  providence  of  God,  in  keeping  all  these 
treasures  of  ancient  art  so  carefully  locked 
up  and  concealed  from  the  view  of  man, 
until  these  latter  ages  of  the  world.  It 
was  not  long,  as  we  have  seen,  after  the 
fall  of  this  proud  city  of  Nineveh,  before  all 
outward  traces  of  its  existence  had  disap- 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


213 


peared.  For  twenty-five  centuries  it  has 
been  buried  from  human  sight.  The  wan- 
dering tribes  of  the  desert  have  roamed  over 
it,  and  pitched  their  tents  upon  it,  — the 
armies  of  the  West,  in  their  work  of  con- 
quest, have  marched  around  it  and  across 
it,  but  it  was  to  them  only  a scene  of  wide- 
spread desolation.  Travellers  have  searched 
for  the  spot  where  the  city  stood,  and  their 
search  has  ended  in  doubt  and  uncertainty. 
Yet  through  all  these  slow-moving  cen- 
turies God  has  held  the  secret  of  its  exist- 
ence. The  generations  of  men  have  been 
coming  and  going.  Mighty  empires,  during 
the  time,  have  risen  and  fallen,  and  this 
secret  has  slumbered  in  the  Divine  Mind. 
“ It  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a thing.” 
And  this  was  not  an  idle  concealment. 
From  this  store-house  of  wonders,  in  the 
latter  days  were  to  come  facts  and  proofs, 
which  should  confound  the  scoffer,  and  put 
to  confusion  the  hosts  of  infidelity.  It  is  a 


214 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


record  such  as  cannot  be  gainsaid  or  re- 
sisted. It  shows  us  the  exact  truth  of  the 
Old  Testament  narrative,  in  a way  to  con- 
vince the  most  obstinate.  Can  we  doubt 
that  God  had  this  in  view  during  all  these 
ages  of  silence  ? u His  eye  seeth  every 
precious  thing,  and  that  which  is  hidden, 
bringeth  He  forth  to  light.” 

From  generation  to  generation,  men  are 
constantly  rising  up,  whose  strong  desire  is 
to  overthrow  the  word  of  God,  and  make 
it,  if  possible,  of  none  effect.  From  the 
earliest  days  of  Christianity  these  men  have 
been  busy  at  their  work,  and  their  constant 
boast  has  been,  that  they  have  accomplished 
their  task.  But  somehow  it  happens  that 
in  spite  of  all  their  boasts,  the  record 
stands.  Whatever  these  particular  indi- 
viduals may  think,  the  mass  of  mankind 
have  a growing  confidence  in  the  Scripture, 
record,  and  are  ready  to  say,  “ Thy  testi- 
monies are  very  sure.”  It  is  less  than  a 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  215 

hundred  years  ago  that  the  great  infidel, 
Thomas  Paine,  made  his  famous  boast,  that 
he  had  utterly  overthrown  the  Bible  as  a 
book  of  authority.  After  he  had  finished 
his  examination  of  the  Old  Testament,  he 
breaks  out  in  this  haughty  and  exultant 
strain : “ I have  now  gone  through  the  Old 

Testament,  as  a man  would  go  through  a 
wood  with  an  axe  on  his  shoulder  and  fell 
trees.  Here  they  lie,  and  the  priests  may, 
if  they  can,  reset  them.  They  may  possi- 
bly stick  them  in  the  ground,  but  they  can 
never  make  them  grow.  I pass  on  to  the 
New  Testament.”  Since  Paine  uttered  this 
* insolent  boast,  more  copies  of  the  Bible  have 
been  printed  and  circulated  among  the  na- 
tions, than  were  ever  circulated  before  in  all 
the  ages  that  had  preceded.  And  it  is  to 
confound  such  audacity,  and  put  to  shame 
these  infidel  prophesiers,  that  God,  from  time 
to  time,  opens  some  new  store-house  of 


216 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


wonders,  like  those  contained  in  this  buried 
city  of  the  early  world. 

It  is,  of  course,  only  a very  small  part  of 
the  Old  Testament  that  has  any  thing  to 
do  directly  with  this  ancient  city.  The 
references  in  the  Old  Testament  to  the  city 
itself  are  few  in  number.  But  all  allusions 
to  Assyria,  and  to  the  Assyrian  kings,  are 
in  one  sense  allusions  to  Nineveh,  since  this 
was  the  house  of  these  kings,  and  the  capi- 
tal of  the  empire.  Yet  on  the  widest  view 
possible,  it  is  not  contended  that  any  large 
part  of  the  ancient  Scriptures  have  to  do 
with  this  subject.  Still,  when  a historical 
book  is  found  absolutely  correct  in  one  de- 
partment,— when  no  mistake  whatever  can 
be  discovered  in  its  narrative,  — and  that, 
too,  when  the  severest  tests  are  suddenly 
brought  to  bear  upon  it,  — it  is  fair  to  pre- 
sume — men,  if  they  are  honest,  will  pre- 
sume— that  the  other  parts  of  the  narra- 


217 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 

\ 

tive  are  true  also.  u He  that  is  faithful  in 
the  least,  is  faithful  also  in  much.”  And 
this  principle  can  nowhere  be  more  safely 
applied  than  to  the  Scripture  writers. 

It  has  already  been  intimated  that  the 
effect  of  these  discoveries  was  most  marked 
upon  the  mind  of  Layard  himself. 

When  he  entered  upon  this  work  of  un- 
covering the  ruins  of  Nineveh,  he  had  little 
reverence  for  the  Scriptures,  and  was  accus- 
tomed to  speak  of  these  books  of  ancient 
history  and  prophecy,  if  not  with  contempt, 
certainly  with  indifference  and  trifling.  But 
after  he  had  confronted  these  buried  memo- 
rials ; after  he  had  penetrated  these  abodes 
of  the  old  Assyrian  monarchs,  and  had 
seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  records  engraven 
upon  stone,  which  showed  that  the  men  of 
whom  the  Old  Testament  speaks  so  fa- 
miliarly did  really  live,  and  act  their  part 
upon  the  earth,  and  that  they  lived  the  life, 
and  were  characterized  by  the  manners  and 


218 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


customs  there  ascribed  to  them,  he  could 
no  longer  trifle.  He  was  awed  into  silence 
and  reverence.  Those  who  saw  and  knew 
him  before,  and  have  seen  him  since  this 
work  was  done,  say  that  there  is  the  most 
manifest  change  of  sentiment  and  conviction 
touching  the  truth  of  these  ancient  records. 
And  what  was  thus  wrought  upon  his 
mind,  must  be  wrought  upon  every  mind 
that  yields  itself  fairly  to  the  influences  thus 
brought  to  bear  upon  it. 

As  one  wanders  through  the  lands  once 
occupied  by  these  haughty  monarchies,  he 
is  painfully  impressed  with  the  strange  con- 
trasts that  time  has  brought  about.  Here, 
for. many  hundred  years,  were  the  old  seats 
of  empire,  and  all  the  great  interests  of  the 
race  seemed  to  centre  here.  But  the  star 
of  empire  has  been  slowly  moving  west- 
ward. The  great  volume  of  human  history 
has  been  steadily  unfolding.  These  early 
empires  had  their  place  and  part  in  the 


219 


yT  HE  BUEIED  CITY. 

universal  scheme.  They  stand  related,  in 
ways  that  we  can  now  trace  out,  and  in 
ways  also  that  we  cannot  trace,  to  the 
great  work  of  the  world’s  redemption.  But 
having  filled  their  part  in  the  general  plan, 
they  were  long  ago  laid  aside,  and  new 
empires  rose  into  view,  which  have  also  in 
their  turn  been  overwhelmed  and  sub- 
merged in  the  advancing  tide  of  time. 
And  the  omnipotent  God,  who  rules  in 
heaven  and  does  according  to  his  pleasure, 
“ will  overturn,  and  overturn,  until  He  shall 
come  whose  right  it  is,”  and  reign  king 
among  the  nations. 

Silence  and  desolation  now  brood  over 
the  lands  that  were  once  the  scene  of  this 
amazing  stir  and  activity.  Layard,  in  his 
second  expedition,  standing  on  one  of  the 
mounds  in  Upper  Mesopotamia,  beautifully 
describes  the  scene  around  him  : 

“ As  the  evening  crept  on,”  he  says,  u I 
watched  from  the  highest  mound  the  sun 


220 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


as  it  gradually  sunk  in  unclouded  splendor 
below  the  sea-like  expanse  before  me.  On 
all  sides,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  rose 
the  grass-covered  heaps  marking  the  site 
of  ancient  habitations.  The  great  tide  of 
civilization  had  long  since  ebbed,  leaving 
these  scattered  wrecks  upon  the  solitary 
shore.  Are  those  waters  to  flow  again, 
bearing  back  the  seeds  of  knowledge  and 
of  wealth  that  they  have  wafted  to  the 
West  ? We  wanderers  were  seeking  what 
they  had  left  behind,  as  children  gather  up 
the  colored  shells  on  the  deserted  sands. 
At  my  feet  there  was  a busy  scene,  making 
more  lovely  the  unbroken  solitude  which 
reigned  in  the  vast  plain  around,  where  the 
only  things  having  life  or  motion  were  the 
shadows  of  the  lofty  mounds  as  they 
lengthened  before  the  declining  sun.  Above 
three  years  before,  when  watching  the  ap- 
proach of  night  from  the  old  castle  of  Tel 
Afer,  I had  counted  nearly  one  hundred 


1 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  221 

mins ; now,  when  in  the  midst  of  them,  no 
less  than  double  that  number  were  seen 
from  Tel  Temal” 

This  was  the  view  presented  from  a sin- 
gle point ; and  in  the  light  of  this  descrip- 
tion we  may  gather  some  faint  idea  of  the 
wonders  of  old  Assyrian  enterprise,  and 
how  much  yet  remains  to  be  explored. 

Many  persons  reading  these  stories  of 
what  was  done  in  these  ancient  days,  at 
once  leap  to  the  conclusion  that  the  people 
of  that  time  must  have  had  knowledge  of 
mechanical  powers  and  processes  — of  pon- 
derous systems  of  machinery  now  unknown. 
But  we  are  not  to  draw  any  such  inference 
as  this  from  the  facts  before  us.  There  is 
a single  principle,  already  adverted  to,  which 
helps  to  solve  the  whole  difficulty,  namely, 
that  millions  were  made  to  toil  to  execute 
the  will,  and  gratify  the  pride,  of  one  man. 
Some  of  these  great  works,  like  the  artificial 
lanes  spoken  of,  were  works  of  real  utility 


ooo 

^ w 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


and  beneficence,  and  we  can  look  upon 
them  with  real  satisfaction.  But  the  groat 
majority  were  idle  displays  of  pomp  and 
power. 

It  is  now  very  generally  believed,  that 
the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  which  were  so  long 
a puzzle  to  mankind,  were  simply  the  tombs 
of  Egyptian  kings.  One  of  these  old  mon- 
arch* did  not  scruple  to  employ  the  labors, 
and  exhaust  the  strength,  of  hundreds  of 
thou  mds  of  his  subjects,  in  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  providing  for  himself  a colossal 
monument  which  should  perpetuate  his 
name  to  remotest  generations.  It  is  some 
comfort  to  know  that  the  old  tyrant  failed 
after  all  — that  for  thousands  of  years  he 
has  slept  under  his  massive  pile,  as  un- 
known, as  uncared  for,  as  the  meanest 
laborer  who  toiled  to  build  it.  His  grave 
has  been  as  utterly  unknown  to  men  as 
though  he  had  been  buried  under  the  shift- 
ing sands  of  the  Lybian  desert.  Had  it 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


223 


been  his  dog,  instead  of  himself,  for  which 
such  a costly  sepulchre  was  prepared,  it 
would  have  been  all  the  same. 

But  with  what  mingled  pity  and  indig- 
nation must  we  look  upon  these  vast  dis- 
plays of  power,  put  forth  for  the  glory  of 
one  man,  when  we  contrast  with  them  the 
widely  scattered  and  beneficent  results  of 
our  modem  industry.  A little  more  than 
two  hundred  years  ago,  this  broad  land 
which  we  inhabit  was  an  unbroken  wilder- 
ness. Now,  throughout  all  its  wide  extent, 
it  presents  a scene  of  boundless  activity. 
It  numbers  many  cities,  great  and  populous, 
— its  valleys  resound  with  the  cheerful  hum 
of  machinery,  — its  countless  rivers  and 
lakes  are  alive  with  internal  commerce — 
thousands  of  fleet  ships  are  spreading  their 
white  sails  in  our  harbors,  and  dropping 
down  from  their  anchorage  bound  to  every 
part  of  the  habitable  globe  — countless 
railroad  trains  are  speeding  along  their  non 


224 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


tracks,  making  the  hills  vocal  with  the 
echoes  of  their  majestic  march  — and  more 
impressive  than  all,  there  is  that  steady, 
silent  labor  of  the  lonely  tillers  of  the  soil, 
which  hews  down  the  forest,  breaks  up  the 
rough  and  rocky  earth,  builds  fences  and 
walls  and  bridges,  busies  itself  a little  here 
and  a little  there,  and  shows  us  at  length  a 
vast  continent  subdued  and  reduced  from 
its  original  wdldness  into  order  and  beauty, 
into  green  fields,  smiling  farms,  and  waving 
harvests.  A work  has  thus  been  going  on, 
not  under  the  eye  of  some  haughty  mon- 
arch, but  prompted  by  free  hearts,  and  car- 
ried forward  by  willing  hands,  conducing 
all  the  while  to  individual  happiness  and 
prosperity,  — a work  so  vast,  that  could  the 
strength  and  skill  employed  upon  it  be  all 
concentrated,  they  would  build  Babylons  at 
the  rate  of  a score  every  year. 

This,  therefore,  is  the  grand  characteristic 
of  modern  industry,  as  compared  with  the 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


225 


ancient.  It  looks  primarily  to  the  good  of 
the  individual  citizen,  and  not  to  the  ag- 
grandizement of  some  bloated  tyrant.  It 
* is  diffusive  in  its  aims,  rather  than  consoli- 
dated upon  a few  great  enterprises.  And 
yet  it  works,  by  the  very  law  of  nature,  to- 
ward a grand  harmony  and  unity. 

It  was  not,  then,  because  the  ancients 
were  men  of  greater  conceptions,  or  had 
more  science  and  skill  and  mechanical  in- 
genuity than  we  have,  that  they  built  these 
great  structures.  Every  thing  goes  to  show 
that  we  are,  in  general,  far  superior  to  them 
in  these  respects.  They  had  knowledge, 
undoubtedly,  of  some  of  the  great  mechan- 
ical powers  now  in  use,  but  there  is  nothing 
which  goes  to  show  that  they  understood 
how  to  combine  these  powers  to  produce 
the  great  results  which  we  can  reach 
through  them. 

The  one  grand  principle  on  which  these 

old  monarchs  acted,  in  constructing  their 
15 


226 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


great  works,  was  to  employ  an  immense 
multitude  of  men,  and  keep  them  at  their 
work  under  task-masters  till  it  was  done. 
If  twenty  men  can  move  a stone  that 
weighs  a ton,  four  or  five  hundred,  with 
ropes  attached,  and  with  simple  rollers  for 
it  to  rest  upon,  can  move  a very  much 
larger  one.  ^ If  this  stone  has  to  be  raised 
high  in  the  air,  and  they  have  no  other  way 
to  do  it,  they  must  bring  earth  and  make  a 
long  inclined  plane,  and  draw  it  up  the 
plane  with  ropes.  We  are  always  to  keep 
in  mind,  that  in  these  early  monarchies 
there  are  men  enough  to  be  had  at  the  call 
of  the  king.  History  tells  us,  that  it  took 
360,000  men  twenty  years  to  build  the  great 
pyramid  of  Egypt.  We  know,  by  the  direct 
testimony  of  Scripture,  that  between  two 
and  three  hundred  thousand  men  were  em- 
ployed for  more  than  seven  years  in  build- 
ing the  temple  of  Solomon  at  Jerusalem, 
which  was  a comparatively  small  structure, 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  227 

though  wonderful  for  the  costliness  and 
delicacy  of  its  finish.  One  of  the  early 
queens  of  Babylon  is  said  to  have  had  two 
millions  of  men  employed  on  the  great 
works  which  she  was  constructing  during 
her  reign. 

All  our  habits  of  mind,  and  all  the 
methods  of  our  modem  industry,  are*  so 
utterly  diverse  from  those  which  prevailed 
in  those  early  empires,  that  we  find  it  hard 
to  believe  that  such  great  numbers  were 
actually  employed  upon  these  works.  But 
let  us  reflect  upon  this  for  a moment.  At 
the  time  the  children  of  Israel  went  out  of 
Egypt,  there  were  of  them  600,000  men 
capable  of  bearing  arms.  Now  this  race 
had  been  in  bondage  in  Egypt  for  four 
hundred  years,  and  they  had  been  kept  at 
hard  labor  all  the  while.  They  belonged 
to  the  monarch.  Every  thing  in  the  sacred 
narrative  goes  to  show,  that  they  were  not 
parcelled  out  in  little  companies*  owned 


228 


NINEVEHJ  OK, 


and  worked  by  individuals,  as  are  the  slaves 
on  our  Southern  plantations.  They  were 
the  property  of  the  monarch,  to  be  em- 
ployed in  his  service.  Now  what  work  so 
great  that  it  could  not  be  accomplished  by 
such  a number  of  working  men  as  we  have 
in  this  one  company,  without  reference  to 
any  others.  If  the  king  of  Egypt  wanted 
to  dig  the  Lake  Moeris  — a most  stupen- 
dous undertaking  — he  had  only  to  set  such 
a body  of  men  as  this  upon  the  work,  and 
keep  them  at  it  long  enough,  and  it  would 
be  done. 

i 

We  need  not  deny  that  the  ancients  had 
a knowledge  of  some  things  which  we  do 
not  possess  -r-  that  they  had  skill  and  power 
to  do  some  things  which  we  cannot  do  — 
that  there  are,  in  short,  “ lost  arts  ” which 
the  race  may  never  recover.  And  it  is, 
perhaps,  of  little  consequence  whether  we 
ever  regain  them  or  not.  It  is  quite  likely, 
that  in  those  departments  which  minister 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


229 


to  luxury  and  self-indulgence,  or  even  to 
the  elegancies  of  life,  they  had  inventions, 
the  secret  of  which  has  perished  with  them. 
But  in  all  matters  of  substantial  utility,  — 
in  all  the  arts  which  minister  really  to  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  men,  we  stand 
without  doubt  immeasurably  in  advance  of 
them.  Those  arts  which  were  lost,  were 
lost,  doubtless,  because  they  were  of  use  to 
a select  few.  We  may  rest  very  confident 
that  no  great  mechanical  power  has  ever 
been  lost ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  in  this 
department,  we  have  an  immense  advan- 
tage over  any  previous  age,  and  we  execute 
great  works  with  a promptness  and  energy 
which  would  have  been  for  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  these  early  nations.  They 
did  their  work  by  the  slowest  and  hardest , 
but  they  did  it. 

We  have  thus  endeavored  to  give  our 
readers  some  conception  of  the  character 
of  these  ancient  cities,  and  the  wonderful 


230 


NINEVEH}  OR, 

lessons  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
they  have  been  made  to  teach  us. 

The  effect  wrought  upon  the  mind  in 
following  Mr.  Layard,  step  by  step,  as  he 
penetrates  into  these  old  palaces  of  Nine- 
veh— these  abodes  of  ancient  splendor  so 
long  buried  and  forgotten  — is  nothing  less 
than  that  produced  by  the  most  highly  ex- 
citing romance.  These  halls,  for  ages  hid- 
den under  earth  and  rubbish,  once  echoed 
with  all  the  stir,  and  shone  with  all  the 
gayety,  of  Assyrian  life.  Here  kings  and 
nobles  congregated,  and  formed  their  plans 
of  conquest  and  dominion.  In  these  spa- 
cious courts  the  royal  feast  was  spread, 
lavish  and  costly  as  that  to  which  Belshaz- 
zar called  the  nobles,  captains,  and  mighty 
men  of  Babylon  ; and  as  the  hours  of  night 
wore  away,  these  halls  resounded  with 
mirth  and  revelry. 

What  multitudes  of  men  toiled  to  rear 
these  temples  and  palaces ! How  many 


231 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 

lives  were  u made  hard  in  mortar  and  in 
brick ! ” How  many  used  np  the  years  of 
their  strength  in  cutting  these  huge  stones 
from  the  quarry  and  bringing  them  to  their 
places ! How  many  artists  wrought  ambi- 
tiously and  laboriously  with  the  chisel, 
slowly  to  bring  out  from  the  solid  stone 
these  countless  forms  and  figures,  in  all 
their  finished  workmanship  ! 

In  tracing  out  the  great  variety  of  scenes 
which  the  ancient  Assyrians  caused  to  be 
inscribed  upon  their  walls,  one  cannot  but 
be  struck  with  the  fact,  how  every  thing 
seems  to  be  subordinated  to  the  one  grand 
ruling  idea  of  war.  We  know,  indeed, 
from  history,  that  war  was  the  leading 
business  of  all  the  early  world.  But  in 
these  sculptured  stories,  we  behold  the 
ruling  thought  of  a nation  graven,  as  Job 
prayed  his  words  might  be,  “ graven  with 
an  iron  pen  and  lead  in  the  rock  forever.” 
It  needs  but  a glance  to  convince  us,  that  a 


# 


1 


232  NiNEVEn;  or, 

people  whose  palaces  and  temples  were 
covered  with  such  figures  as  we  here  be- 
hold, had  no  higher  ambition  than  to  ac- 
quire fame  in  the  brutal  pursuits  of  war. 
Here,  in  long  succession,  are  pictures  of 
battles  and  sieges  — towers  and  castles 
bristling  with  armed  men  — warriors  on 
foot,  on  horses,  and  in  chariots  — battering 
rams  beating  down  the  walls  of  cities  — 
trains  of  captives  with  heads  bowed  and 
hands  bound  behind  them  — spearmen 
transfixing  their  foes  — bodies  with  heads 
cut  off  scattered  over  the  ground  — women 
wringing  their  hands  in  grief,  in  the  face  of 
pressing  dangers  — trains  of  soldiers  bring- 
ing the  heads  of  the  slain  together,  and 
throwing  them  down  at  the  feet  of  the 
scribe  to  be  numbered,  — these,  and  such  as 
these,  are  the  scenes  endlessly  portrayed 
upon  these  walls  of  Nineveh. 

And  yet  the  day  of  reckoning  at  last 
came.  These  Assyrian  monarchs,  after 


THE  BURIED  CITY. 


233 


lording  it  for  centuries  over  surrounding 
nations,  and  exulting  in  their  defeat,  humil- 
iation, and  sorrow,  — after  indulging  in 
their  dreams  of  universal  conquest  and 
dominion,  are  suddenly  stopped  short  in 
their  career.  The  august  structures  which 
they  had  reared,  yea,  even  the  mighty  Nin- 
eveh itself,  through  which  the  tide  of  life 
had  long  swept  so  tumultuously  and  tri- 
umphantly, by  one  turn  in  the  wonder- 
working providence  of  God,  is  covered  with 
perpetual  desolation. 

There  is  something  profoundly  impres- 
sive in  noticing  how  sudden,  and  yet  how 
complete,  was  the  downfall  and  extinction 
of  this  old  Assyrian  empire.  There  was  no 
long  and  slow  decay,  like  that  which  came 
over  the  Roman  empire,  and  which  made 
her  a thousand  years  in  dying.  This  an- 
cient kingdom  seemed  rather  to  break  and 
vanish,  like  a cloud,  which,  while  we  are 
looking  at  it,  melts  into  thin  air.  At  one 


NINEVEH;  OR, 


p;u 


time  we  behold  this  august  empire  stretch- 
ing her  haughty  sway  over  the  conquered 
nations,  and  shaking  the  earth  with  the 
noise  of  her  chariots  and  the  tread  of  her 
armed  hosts.  We  look  again  after  a little 
time,  and  the  silence  of  death  has  settled 
over  her  cities  and  all  her  chief  places  of 
concourse,  and  men  are  inquiring  one  of 
another,  u Where  is  he  that  did  make  the 
earth  to  tremble,  and  did  shake  kingdoms ; 
that  made  the  world  like  a wilderness,  and 
destroyed  the  cities  thereof  ? ” As  when  a 
ship  sailing  proudly  upon  the  open  sea, 
with  all  her  sails  set,  suddenly  strikes  a 
rock,  staggers  a moment,  and  sinks  into  the 
bottomless  abyss,  so  was  this  proudest 
monarchy  of  the  early  world  shattered  and 
engulfed. 

It  is  the  full  justification  of  that  remark- 
able prophecy  of  Isaiah  already  quoted,  but 
which  may  stand  as  the  fitting  close  of  this 
volume. 


THE  BURIED  CITY.  235 

“ Behold  the  Assyrian  was  a cedar  in 
Lebanon,  with  fair  branches  and  with  a 
shadowing  shroud  and  of  a high  stature, 
and  his  top  was  among  the  thick  boughs. 

....  Therefore  saith  the  Lord,  because 
thou  hast  lifted  thyself  up  in  height,  and 
he  hath  shot  up  his  top  among  the  thick 
boughs,  and  his  heart  is  lifted  up  in  his 
height,  I have  therefore  delivered  him  into 
the  hand  of  the  mighty  one  of  the  heathen, 
he  shall  surely  deal  with  him.  I have 
driven  him  out  for  his  wickedness.  And 
strangers,  the  terrible  of  the  nations,  have 
cut  him  off  and  have  left  him ; upon  the 
mountains  and  in  all  the  valleys  his 
branches  are  fallen,  . . . and  all  the  people 
of  the  earth  have  gone  down  from  his 
shadow  and  have  left  him.  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  In  the  day  when  he  went  down  to 
the  grave,  I caused  a mourning,  ...  I 
made  the  nations  to  shake  at  the  sound  of 
his  fall  ” 


I 


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